Series IV. Writing, 1947-2004, inclusive

This series reflects Rony's expertise on labor and unions, especially those in the South, through her published and unpublished writing. She published various articles on civil rights and unions in the mid-late 1960s. These articles covered topics such as union organization at J. P. Stevens, the conflict between the civil rights movement and the paper workers union in Bogalusa, Louisiana; poverty and unions; the Mississippi "tent city" strike of 1966; and the changes in the civil rights and labor movements in the South. Related drafts, notes, and research materials are included here. Additionally, she published a companion piece to The Uprising of '34 in The South Carolina Review in 1994-1995. Rony wrote a number of articles on labor that were unpublished; many of these articles were presumably used for her book, "True South," a passion project which she worked on from the 1970s through her death in 2011. The book's focus was on the history of Southern "uplanders," or descendants of Scotch and Irish pioneers in the Piedmont region (Southern Virginia, East Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Northern Georgia and Alabama), and industrial development. Rony experimented with different titles for the book, including "The Roots of the Anti-Union South: A History of the Southern Textile Workers" and "The Roots of the Anti-Union South," before settling on "True South." A significant part of this collection consists of drafts, notes, manuscripts, correspondence with editors and readers, and research for this work.