ABSTRACT
In 1930, in I'll Take My Stand, twelve highly respected southerners tendered a statement about the South and its future. The industrialization that many southerners in 1930 believed imperiled the region eventually became a fact of life. However, industrialization was framed in more than economic policy; it was touted as part and parcel of much broader progressive reforms to improve the economic of southerners. The industrialization of the rural South was not the unabashed success media accounts led the public to believe it was. Roadblocks to industrialization and modernization were manifold. The marked success of the South's industrialization once again attracted the attention of the national press. "There are some poverty-stricken rural areas which are not economically viable," the commission observed. "Industrialization in these areas is not a feasible solution." The National Planning Association's committee, noting the need for technical training, had called for technical training institutes accessible to rural areas and for one outstanding regional graduate school of technology.
