I’m surprised at the emotions that are brought up by a simple photograph of an Alabama cotton field. Personally, I think that it may be the most powerful image of the south. To some, it symbolizes all that is evil in the perception of us by the rest of the nation.

I was performing a home inspection for a black client and when her friends saw that the neighborhood bordered a cotton field, they exclaimed that they could not live in view of cotton. To the rest of us, the vast majority who have no connection whatsoever to slavery, it is more likely to remind us of the powerful impact of this commodity on our culture. It is different than any other crop in that respect. There was many a pair of shoes, coveralls and dresses provided to the rural children, once a year, by the toil of cotton farming by both black and white families.

I’m proud to be from the south and to be blessed by the many things that this region offers to those who call it home, regardless of where they live.

By Hal Leary