tidbits, fragments, and ephemera is a usually weekly but not always, sometimes substantial but not making any promises glimpse at some information and news related to Generation X in the Deep South.
Mississippi’s Education Reform Act of 1982
Only the very oldest GenXers in Mississippi would have avoided the effects of this significant change in the way that public education were handled. According to this excerpt from the Mississippi Encyclopedia, after a history of education policy driven by segregation: “The Mississippi Education Reform Act of 1982 established compulsory school attendance, created state-funded kindergartens, increased teacher pay, authorized the hiring of teaching assistants and truant officers, and implemented a statewide testing program for performance-based accreditation of public schools. The reforms were funded by increases in the state’s sales tax and corporate and individual income taxes.”
Reader’s Digest shares the ten best cities for each generation.
According to this article from April 2021, seven of the ten best cities for GenXers to live in are in the South: Atlanta, Louisville, Charlotte, Raleigh, and three cities in south Florida. Sadly, you have scroll past the list for the Boomers to get to our list.
The Ole Miss podcast “Swerve South” features the host of “Waiting to X-hale” podcast.
excerpted: “‘Swerve South,’ a six-part weekly series that debuted Nov. 27, examines the Deep South through the lenses of gender, feminism, multiculturalism, pop culture and queer culture.” Guest have included “the producers of the popular podcast “Waiting to X-Hale,” which fleshes out influential cultural and social moments that define Generation X.”
Homecoming celebrations at HBCUs
This New York Times article “Welcome to Homecoming!” from October 2020 provides an array of perspectives on the traditions at historically black colleges and universities in the South. Several of the recollections are from the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s and include photographs.
The founding of the Savannah College of Art and Design, 1978
excerpted: “The school began its first academic year in the fall of 1979 with seventy-one students, eight faculty, four staff, five trustees, and eight majors. [ . . . ] In May 1981 the first commencement ceremony was held in Savannah’s Madison Square for one graduate.”
level:deepsouth is an online anthology about growing up Generation X in the Deep South during the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. The anthology is open to submissions of creative nonfiction (essays, memoirs, and reviews) and images (photos and flyers), as well as to contributions for the lists.
