Homogenous is the word I would use to describe my growing up years in East Tennessee. In fact, that word would describe most of the US during the 1950's. Everyone tried to look, act, and think like the folks that were most like them and to put down those 'not like' them. There was tremendous conformity in all parts of society; Tennessee was no different. The only differences expressed in Tennessee were those used to describe the state as 'three states, east, middle, west'. This description meant that each differed significantly politically, racially, occupationally, and geographically. Within each of these 'three states' everyone copied everyone else.
East Tennesseans were small truck farmers because their land was tied to mountains, valleys and hollers. They grew corn, tobacco, cattle. They were Republicans because they fought with the Union during the Civil War and they thought of themselves as stubbornly independent to the end. NO need to trust anyone. West Tennesseans were Democrats because they fought with the South during the Civil War. Their land was flat, sandy, and well suited for cotton. They believed cooperation was better than arguing especially if you were dealing with people that accepted the same racial beliefs that you held. Geographically, Middle Tennessee was a mixture of East and West; politically it was more Democratic like West Tennessee.
For as long as I can remember I was told I was a Republican by my father and my relatives. I knew that Democrats were bad. Daddy said he would consider me and my older brothers traitors and enemies if we ever said anything positive about Democrats. During my growing up I was told there were 4 Democrats in our county and given their names. My father said, "Patsy, they's two things I never, ever, want you to do: "You must never drive a Ford, (we were a General Motors family), and you must never marry a Democrat!" Because Daddy was a community leader he ranted daily about 'them awful Democrats' and 'them sorry Ford trucks.' I knew doing either of these would get me kicked out of our family.
In high school I encountered my first Democrat teacher, Mr. Seals, who taught history, and I got to hear the other side. Students argued daily with him. I was only a listener in these debates while other students told Mr. Seals he was flat out wrong. He rarely became agitated; he just spoke his side back to their arguments. I remember his class as being in a constant uproar with discussions and arguments. I also got to know the Democrat students in my class, especially, Herman Lawson who was the only Democrat in class who sided and argued with Mr. Seals. Of course he would be a Democrat because his Dad was one of the four Democrats in the county! I don't remember thinking a lot about what was said in class, but I do remember that the class stood out to me in some unidentifiable way. Perhaps it was the new ideas.
By the end of the senior year Herman asked me to the Alumni Banquet. We ended up deciding on the same college in East Tennessee. College was the thing that shook my Republican world in a hard way. I loved psychology and sociology and nothing that I had been taught about politics at home fit into what I was now being taught by my professors. It was a new framework for viewing things that I had never considered before. The more I learned about conflict over resources, religions, wars, human rights and sharing the earth with other people, the more I knew I did not embrace Republican ideas. Night after night I thought about these new ideas. Herman and I often talked for hours about a variety of social and political issues. We also argued and debated continually. By the time we graduated college and got married, I was totally committed to the Democrat cause. I felt I finally had chosen my own political beliefs for the first time rather than just echoing the family beliefs.
Daddy never knew about my conversion because he died before I completed high school. I suppose this worked out just fine because I didn't have to get disowned by my father or face challenges from other family members. Much to my surprise my brothers and other relatives accepted my change without arguement. Oh, by the way, our first car as a couple was a FORD.
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