RECOLLECTIONS: MY FOLKS and FIELDS

In 1960 Eddie B. Rozelle self-published Recollections: My Folks and Fields. The book is a cultural and social history centered in Clay County, Alabama, located in the east central section of the state. By using a manual typewriter and a mimeograph machine and finally having the pages bound in heavy paper, the author recorded a thorough depiction of rural life in southern Alabama in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This new edition, edited by Eddie Rozelle’s daughter Rebecca Rozelle Burt, is essentially identical to the first. The editing involved little other than correcting mechanical and structural errors. An appendix was added, consisting of relevant material that should be of great interest to readers.

Though Rozelle makes it clear that the grueling work involved in farming dominated the lives of most inhabitants of the region, the enormous amount of detail concerning education, medical care, church activities, entertainment, and civic practices re-creates a particular time and place in American history. The narratives of specific events come alive in this writer’s hands, sometimes with humor, at others with a tragic eye. The strengths of the small, close-knit world were characterized by the interdependence of family and community. Most inhabitants of the Hatchett Creek community worked together to improve their lot, both collectively and individually. It is obvious that Rozelle’s appreciation of these values, even the hardships of his early life, led him to write this history.