Citadel professor publishes book on segregation-era Georgia governor
February 7, 2011
CHARLESTON, SC – February 4, 2011 – The title of Scott Buchanan’s new political biography is sure to catch your eye and it might make you do a double take.
“Some of the People Who Ate My Barbecue Didn’t Vote for Me” is the title of Buchanan’s new book about former Georgia Gov. Marvin Griffin, best known for being racially inflammatory, politically vindictive and a voice of resistance to integration in the Deep South in the 1950s. The title was taken from remarks Griffin made following his last, and unsuccessful, gubernatorial bid in 1962. Griffin was Georgia’s 72nd governor and is a 1929 Citadel graduate.
“Marvin Griffin served at a transitional time in Southern politics as his political career coincided with the last gasps of segregation,” Buchanan said. “Griffin’s defiant position on desegregation gave him great popularity in the South among those committed to segregation. While his resistance to any change in race relations has largely overshadowed his political career, he was also actively helped lead to efforts to lure industrial development to the region.”
“Some of the People Who Ate My Barbecue Didn’t Vote for Me” will be released May 15 by Vanderbilt University Press.
Buchanan is director of The Citadel Symposium on Southern Politics and a member of the political science faculty, specializing in southern politics, elections, and state and local government. Buchanan earned his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma; masters from Auburn University, and undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia. He has published scholarly articles and book chapters on southern politics and elections, including a recent book chapter on the 2008 presidential election that appeared in A Paler Shade of Red published by the University of Arkansas Press in 2009.
