NEW YORK TIMES Column: …In 1969 Mr. Rosengarten was a recent Harvard graduate who went to Alabama with a friend who was researching a defunct organization called the Alabama Sharecroppers Union. Someone suggested they speak to Mr. Cobb, then 84.
Mr. Rosengarten relates what happened: “We asked him right off why he joined the union. He didn’t respond directly; rather, he ‘interpreted’ the question and began, ‘I was haulin’ a load of hay out of Apafalya one day …’ and continued uninterrupted for eight hours. He recounted dealings with landlords, bankers, fertilizer agents, mule traders, gin operators, sheriffs and judges — stories of the social relations of the cotton system. By evening, the fire had risen and died and risen again, and our question was answered.”
No fool, Mr. Rosengarten returned many times, over several years, to speak with Mr. Cobb. He’d found a powerful American voice, one that cracked open a world never so fully explored in print. The result is “All God’s Dangers,” which deserves a place in the front rank of American autobiographies… (more)
