THE NORTHEAST CORNER 417 insects suddenly infested a family‘s vegetable garden, neighbors (regardless of color) necessarily depended upon one another. Thus, the members of that immediate community became more equalized. In rural, integrated communities, mutual assistance systems between white and African American neighbors facilitated the development of a community consciousness that could dominate over racial identity—even during an extreme crisis such as the L.Q. Ivy lynching. In these certain small communities, the realities of rural life exposed the contradictions between popularized images of blackness and who African Americans were. Exclusively white rural communities, however, developed a communal identity in which whiteness appeared to be a necessary condition.” Copeland’s study found that race relations in the Northeast Corner did not strictly conform to the stereotypes generated by studies for the rest of the state. He determined people living together in poor communities facing the same hardships often generated a community identity that transcended the racial divide. However, Copeland’s reference to a lynching in the area showed that even in the comparatively tranquil corner of northeast Mississippi, racial violence could sometimes simmer just below the surface. Social progress in the region came in large part because of the efforts of women. Women did not typically fill leadership roles in the churches of the nineteenth century, but with modernization came an expanding role for women, primarily in the raising of money for building funds and missionary work. Churches were the most important and well- organized institutions in Mississippi society, and these churches provide a workshop for women to finely hone their leadership skills. During the first decades of the twentieth century, these skills manifest themselves in the establishment of a club movement. For example, in New Albany, the Federation of Clubs formed a Red Cross chapter to support the war effort. The women then worked to improve education and promote good citizenship. After securing the right to vote, women in New Albany formed a League of Women Voters and fought against bootlegging, gambling, and prostitution. They supported women candidates for local offices, and their support led to the election of Mrs. Walter Coker as chancery clerk in 1936. They used the clubs to educate themselves. The New Albany ladies studied diplomacy and world affairs. In 1930, the city’s all-white New Century Club took up African American literature and found the Harlem Renaissance to be a “literary revolution.” When the Depression hit in 1929, High’s bank and his other businesses failed. Area farmers gladly accepted the New Deal programs proposed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in hopes of improving their position. In earlier years, some farmers had resented any form of what they saw as government intrusion. In 1916, some had even dynamited government “dipping vats” in protest against being required to round up their cattle to run them through what they called “poisoned” water in an effort to control disease carrying ticks. By 1933, though, they had adopted a new viewpoint. In the first month of the Cotton Acreage Reeducation program, all the counties in the northeast region enrolled. By the end of 1933, the government had leased 106,000 acres of cotton land in the region. Between 1932 and 1945, the region decreased cotton and corn production but continued to increase the number of cattle and hog raised. Many young men enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal program in which enrollees worked to build public structures such as parks, zoos, and libraries. The camps were organized in quasi-military fashion and the workers typically lived in barracks. A portion of their cash wages was sent back home. The CCC had camps near Blue Mountain, New Albany, Ashland, Tupelo, and Ripley. The camp near Tishomingo built Tishomingo State Park which still attracts tourists and outdoor enthusiasts to the region. The CCC workers used materials found in the area, including the famous Many young men enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal program in which enrollees worked to build public structures such as parks, zoos, and libraries.