Author Description

In this lively two-part narrative, Carole W. Troxler and William M. Vincent place the legacy of Alamance County solidly in the context of regional and national history. Using a broad social scope and the conventional break at 1865, they connect themes and stories across that artificial line. The resulting threads link pre-Civil War divisions with the post-Emancipation violence that made the area the storm center of the state in the 1870s. Thereafter, recovery and renewal depended on leadership, education, and especially labor -- the constant back-and-forth motion of the shuttle across the loom and its parallel, the plow along the furrow.Shuttle & Plow spans more than three centuries, twice the age of the county carved from western Orange County in 1849. The greater Alamance story includes cultural changes over time, including religious dynamics that came to distinguish much of Southern life. Economic currents begin with deerskin trade and the impact that Native American trading paths had on where new arrivals settled. Methods of farming and home manufacturing are explored, along with the functions of crossroads trading and manufacturing centers before the coming of the railroad. After the Civil War, transitions to wage labor and commercial farming reinforced the rise and domination of textiles. Refinements and adjustments in the textile industry and farming are a major twentieth century theme, along with increasing economic diversity. Changes in labor relations and race relations are important features of the county's social heritage.Shuttle & Plow reveals previously untold stories, many in the words of their actors. Its research grasped longstanding thorns, such as the controversial reputation of a Quaker abolitionist/slave owner and the identity of Wyatt Outlaw. Since the book's 1999 publication, its depth and documentation are encouraging learners and established scholars alike to research further into this microcosm of the American South that is Alamance County.