About the Eccentric Southerner

The schoolhouse where President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalyn Smith Carter attended grade school in Plains, Georgia.

Welcome to The Babblings of an Eccentric Southerner!

Your Eccentric Southerner is Bryant Hand, a proud native of west Georgia. I am both a historian and an educator, currently teaching the history of this great state to eighth-grade students in the west Georgia community. I hold degrees in history education from Jacksonville State University, Georgia State University, and the University of West Georgia, and I am currently completing my doctorate in history education at Kennesaw State University.

My love for Georgia’s past—especially that of west Georgia—began at an early age. I grew up in Tallapoosa, just a stone’s throw from the city cemetery, which remains one of the town’s most fascinating landmarks. A few blocks away sat the Tallapoosa Public Library, home to reels of microfilm containing old editions of the Tallapoosa Journal. Many of my childhood summers were spent poring over those newspapers. Whenever I stumbled upon an interesting story, I felt compelled to visit the cemetery to find the resting place of the person mentioned. While that may sound dull to some, I cannot describe how meaningful it became to connect stories to the lives of those buried in Hollywood Cemetery (yes, that is its official name). Over time, I came to deeply value each person whose bones lay beneath that soil.

A dear friend and respected Tallapoosa historian, Mary Tolleson, once said it best:

“When I am in Hollywood Cemetery, I feel that I am among friends.”
I couldn't agree more.

While I can’t promise exactly what you’ll find in this blog, I hope you’ll come to appreciate some of the richness and complexity of the South. I will conclude with my hopes for this blog by taking from the words of a former professor of mine, Dr. Harvey H. Jackson, as he described his love of the great state of Alabama in the preface of his book, Inside Alabama:

“There is much that I do not like about the history of the South, as well as much that I do, and if I do not come right out and say so, I hope that I imply my opinions so that you will not miss them. Yet my criticism should not cloud the fact that I love the South, draw strength from its strengths, delight in its foibles, treasure its contradictions, enjoy its ironies and ambiguities, and take great pride in the fact that I am one of her citizens.”

— Bryant Hand, The Eccentric Southerner