Son of the Rough South: An Uncivil Memoir

by Karl Fleming

Legendary civil rights reporter Karl Fleming was born in North Carolina's flattest, bleakest tobacco landscape. Raised in a Methodist orphanage during the Great Depression, he was isolated from much of the world around him until an early newspaper job introduced him to the era's brutal racial politics and a subsequent posting as Newsweek 's lead civil rights reporter took him to the South's hotspots throughout the 1960 James Meredith's enrollment at the University of Mississipi, the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, the assassination of Medgar Evers, the murders of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and more. On May 17, 1966, Fleming was beaten by black rioters on the streets of Los Angeles. Newsweek covered the incident in their next issue, and here's what they "That he was beaten by Negroes in the streets of Watts was a cruel irony. Fleming had covered the landmark battles of the Negro revolt from Albany, Ga., to Oxford, Miss., to Birmingham, Ala., and numberless way stations whose names are now all but forgotten.... No journalist was more closely tuned into the Movement; once when a Newsweek Washington correspondent asked the Justice Department to name some Dixie hot spots, the Justice man replied, ‘Ask Fleming. That's what we do.'" In Son of the Rough South , Fleming has delivered a stunning, revealing memoir of all the worlds he knew, black, white, violent, and cloistered — and a deeply moving read for anyone interested in any rough South.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Biography Memoir, Race, American

Hardcover

First published April 30, 2005

About the author

Karl Fleming was an American journalist who made a significant contribution to the Civil Rights Movement through his work for Newsweek magazine in the 1960s.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up in the South post-depression era is tough all around for everyone and impossible for some. Karl Fleming's born into rough circumstances, North Carolina tobacco farm country. There's no food and times are tough, it's the depression. Mom sends both him and his sister to orphanages as husbands get sick and die and it's the depression, times are scary tough. Karl is raised by the Methodist orphanage which surprisingly serves him well in his life. My own associations with orphanages in literature are not happy ones. He's fed, clothed, housed and cared for. He's hardscrabble and ends up following the life of a reporter during very difficult times in the South. He covers the civil rights movements up close and personal. The depictions of these events are heartbreaking and the South is stifling. How he handled a wife, 4 sons and being a reporter in the thick of the hate in Mississippi and Alabama, it's amazing he was able to live to the ripe old age 84. He also covered Kennedy and the Watts riots. A truly amazing life and man who worked doggedly to be unbiased.

[Friend of Buzz · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.1

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Son of the Rough South: An Uncivil Memoir by Karl Fleming (Public Affairs 2005) (Biography) was a wonderful memoir. It was very well-done and well-written, and it was completely engaging - until the last thirty pages when it absolutely petered out. The author shares the engaging tale of a young boy from the Carolinas who was placed in an orphanage by his impoverished mother during the Great Depression at age five; he was raised to adulthood in a Methodist orphanage in Raleigh, North Carolina. He went on to become a prominent writer for Newsweek, and he covered many of the most important events in the struggle for civil rights in the South in the 1960's. He covered the Albany Movement, the Freedom Rider slayings in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and the church bombing in Birmingham. He knew and was known by many of the important figures in the Civil Rights movement, and he was with Robert Kennedy on the night of his assassination. Finally, he fathered four sons and provided them with the type of stable home environment which he lamented missing during his adolescence. Unfortunately, all of these accomplishments were made forfeit by the author's personal choices made in his forty-fourth year. These are revealed in the last thirty pages of the memoir. This was an extremely sad and unnecessary ending to a wonderful story. My rating: 8/10, finished 4/2/13. I have a PB copy, but I have no idea when I purchased it. PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author was born in Newport News, VA but from age eight to seventeen, he lived at a rather stark church orphanage. Following a few years in the Navy and then a brief stint at Appalachian State Teachers College, Fleming dropped out to begin a career in journalism as a court and police reporter in Wilson, NC. He moved on to the Atlanta Constitution and joined Newsweek in 1960 as a correspondent. For the next five years, Fleming was in the thick of civil rights events covering James Meredith's enrollment at Ole Miss, Bull Connor and the marches and church bombing in Birmingham, Gov. George Wallace's school door stand in Tuscaloosa, AL, and the murders of three volunteer voters' rights workers in Philadelphia, MS. Listen to an interview of the author by Tavis Smiley, then at PBS ( http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/a... Karl Fleming, July 13, 2005). In 1965 Fleming became the LA Bureau chief. While covering the 1966 Watts riot, he was severely beaten. This memoir gives his unique perspectives to a turbulent era. Learn more at the NPR Fresh Air program: Civil Rights Reporter Karl Fleming: 'Son of the Rough South' http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st... (lj)

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good memoir by southern born and raised professional writer who covered the civil rights movement in the sixties and beyond. It is also valuable for its evenhanded and rather positive depiction of growing up in a "home" for children who were orphaned or whose parents were too poor to care for them; along with the author managing to maintain a consistent if a bit strained relationship with his relinquishing mom. I found myself wanting a bit more personal detail in this memoir, particularly when the author glanced over his divorce and subsequent remarriage to a woman half his age. As he inserted lots of praise for the second wife's Anne Fleming's writing, I read her novel "Marriage, a Duet" next.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The late Karl Fleming certainly led an interesting life. It started out rough, when his impoverished mother placed him and his sister in a North Carolina orphanage when she wasn't able to support them. But as an adult, he discovered his calling as a newspaperman and later as a writer for Newsweek, and he eventually ended up right in the thick of things during the Civil Rights era, where his relationships with the key players made for a compelling story. He was certainly no angel, which he freely admitted, but the incredible things that he witnessed firsthand, and how he managed to get to that point, kept me interested until the end.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The heart of this memoir lies in the poignant tale of his childhood in a Methodist orphanage in North Carolina, given up by his impoverished and abandoned mother. The meat, though, is in the recounting of his reportage of the struggle of blacks in the South for the right to live without fear, not to mention vote. He reveals his successes as well as his failures, ever the even-handed reporter.

[Jen H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to get to take some students to hear Karl Fleming speak at a luncheon. Afterwards, we met privately with him and asked questions and got advice for aspiring writers. I feel privileged to have spoken with someone who saw the Civil Rights movement first hand.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

An up close and personal view of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's by one of the primary journalists who covered it. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I'm keeping this one in my library.

[Alaine Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good autobiography of Karl Fleming, he was raised in an orphanage as a young boy, and then went on to cover the civil rights movement as a correspondent, hard to believe all these changes happened only 50 years ago, some very moving and emotional parts and was a very good read.

[Nancy Cook-senn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newsweek civil rights reporter tells an evocative tale of growing up in a tough Depression-era orphanage, then witnessing and reporting on the atrocities of the civil rights struggle, including his own, near-fatal, beating during the Watts riots.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book to read at this moment in time! It really educated me on the civil rights movement. Great book.

[John Kaufmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Journalist covering civil rights in the deep south during the sixties.