After being mesmerized by the snapshot presented in "Cotton Tenants" (the publishing of James Agee's original Fortune magazine article detailing three Alabama cotton farming families in 1936 and the basis for his book "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men"), I was compelled to find out what happened to those families after Agee's visit. AND THEIR CHILDREN AFTER THEM illustrates the depressing post-Agee lives of those families as well highlighting the destitution and racial divide that still languishes in the rural Deep South.
An advisory note: AND THEIR CHILDREN AFTER THEM may be best read after reading either "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" or "Cotton Tenants" rather than as a standalone read. This book is essentially a supplement/follow up to "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men", a book in which Agee used pseudonyms for the three families he covered; this book uses those same pseudonyms. "Cotton Tenants", on the other hand, uses the actual family names. Considering my introduction to this subject matter was triggered by "Cotton Tenants", I found it somewhat confusing at times trying to tie the names from "Cotton Tenants" to those in AND THEIR CHILDREN AFTER THEM.
Pseudonym vs. Actual Family Name (used in "Cotton Tenants")
Gudger = Burroughs
Ricketts = Tengle (or Tingle)
Woods = Fields
Dale Maharidge and Michael Williams basically continue the story that started in 1936. Agee's "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" could be viewed as an appetizer for a meal that was never intended to be served (as Agee died in the 1950s). While the written observation of the three families was thorough and thought-provoking enough, Walker Evans' accompanying photos are what beg readers to ask "I wonder what ever happened to them?" Those photos generate a curiosity similar to National Geographic's captivating photo of the Afghan refugee girl. AND THEIR CHILDREN AFTER THEM finally gives readers that main course ... fifty years later. In many ways, Maharidge and Williams make Evan's classic still photos come alive as well as providing us new angles of interpreting Agee's words.
The authors have graciously organized the book into sections that cover specific time frames (1930-1940, 1940-1960 and 1960-mid 80s) and the three families Agee originally covered are given their own chapters within each section. In addition to the original families, the authors profile two more families that were not fully represented in Agee's book: a black family and land-owning family. I found the detailing of these families through the decades a particularly miserable journey. While the Second World War may have brought prosperity to the majority of Americans, the cotton tenants in the Deep South still languished in a seemingly unbreakable cycle of generational poverty. The authors reference Agee's original observations and predictions throughout the book and for the most part, his bleak view of their futures was spot-on. Even in the mid-1980s, the offspring of one family were still urinating in buckets and defecating in the weeds surrounding their dilapidated shack dwelling. Sadly, the one child Agee had pegged as having the will to break away from poverty and having a bright future becomes a tragic, sacrificial figure in the end (even though her children manage to break the poverty cycle). The lives of the offspring are not uplifting and pleasant, but mostly wretched. The book tends to uphold the stereotypical terms describing small towns in the rural Deep South: poor, apathetic and racist. A large collection of updated black-and-white photos at the front of the book are hauntingly reminiscent of Walker Evans' classic 1936 photos. The photos alone encapsulate the continuing misery of generational poverty and emphasize the cliché: "the more things change, the more they stay the same".
AND THEIR CHILDREN AFTER THEM is an eye-opening and depressing read. "Cotton Tenants" may have triggered my interest in learning more about the plight of these poor farming families, but this book completely ended my curiosity. The emotions I felt while reading were tinged with sympathy, frustration and disgust. Frequently, the heart-wrenching futility exhibited by the impoverished families was offset by their lethargic acceptance of their predicament. Although AND THEIR CHILDREN AFTER THEM was written almost thirty years ago, it is a fulfilling read that satisfactorily ends the story James Agee started over seventy years ago.
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