A century ago more than 60 percent of Americans lived in rural areas, today 16 percent do, and as more and more people flock to cities, what used to be the dominant American lifestyle is disappearing. This two-part report is the story of one small town—Henning, Tennessee, which has a population of 945, and is about an hour north of Memphis.
The first installment "Roots Thinning In Rural America" visits the childhood home of the most famous resident of Henning, the Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of Roots, Alex Haley.
Haley was born at the very beginning of a period known as The Great Migration, when in response to segregation and violence, blacks moved out of the South and into cities in the Northeast, Midwest, and West. By the time Haley began penning Roots at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, he’d spent years living in New York City, and most blacks in the U.S. lived in cities.
But Haley, by all accounts, loved country living. After the success of Roots Haley bought not one, but two houses in rural Tennessee, a house he lived in as an adult in Norris, and the museum in Henning.
Beverly Johnson, a relative of Haley's, is the caretaker of the museum. Johnson moved to Henning from Atlanta to tend to an aging relative. "I really, really, really and truly miss Atlanta," Johnson said.
A dwindling proportion of Americans feel the way that Alex Haley did about country living. And a dwindling proportion have family to draw them back there, like Johnson. And that’s taking its toll on small towns like Henning.
Decay in rural America is examined in the second installment "A Small Town Struggles Amid Crime And Decay."
The front of many of the buildings along Main Street in Henning are boarded flat, facades. Their roofs, backs, and sides have fallen in, and the ruined timber lies among weeds with bottles and beer cans.
The busiest spot in Henning today is probably the Main Street post office. There is no home delivery in the town, so everyone has to come to the post office to collect their mail.
Two people were shot at the post office in 2010. The motive was robbery. Like many rural areas, Henning is experiencing levels of crime that seem surreal to longtime residents. Murder is still very rare outside cities, but a study out of Illinois State University found that, towards the end of the 20th century, burglary rates double in rural America and assault rates nearly tripled.
This final installment features the voices of a senior Henning Alderman who grew up in the town and a Main Street shop owner impacted by the crime. It closes with the thoughts of John Cromartie, a demographer who does economic research for the USDA. Hide full description
A century ago more than 60 percent of Americans lived in rural areas, today 16 percent do, and as more and more people flock to cities, what used to be the dominant American lifestyle is disappearing. This two-part report is the story of one small town—Henning, Tennessee, which has a population of 945, and is about an hour north of Memphis. The first installment "Roots Thinning In Rural America" visits the childhood home of the most famous resident of Henning, the Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of Roots, Alex Haley. Haley was born at the very beginning of a period known as The Great Migration, when in response to segregation and violence, blacks moved out of the South and into cities in the Northeast, Midwest, and West. By the time Haley began penning Roots at the height of the... Show full description
