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All Over but the Shoutin'

Terms in this set (44)

Summary
All Over But the Shoutin' is the autobiography of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Rick Bragg. It begins in Piedmont, Alabama, around the time of the Korean War, in the year 1959, when Bragg was born. Bragg's father, Charles Brag, was a veteran of the Korean War and was rarely home. He was a raging alcoholic with a deep mean streak who beat his wife, Margaret Bundham Bragg, in front of their children; Bragg remembers being three years old and attacking his father with his brother Sam, then age six, to stop him from hurting her.

When Charles was not at home, Margaret did her best to support Sam and Rick and their younger brother Mark, working odd jobs like cotton picking and cleaning houses for rich people in town. Bragg grew up in the Possum Trot area, which is close to Jacksonville.

While Charles was absent, Margaret and her children had no shortage of family members. Bragg's maternal grandmother, Miss Abigail, and his aunts and uncles supported the family when they could not support themselves. Other than his father, Bragg claims that he had a happy childhood. While they were incredibly poor, Bragg never knew until he was in high school and the girls he dated would break up with him when they saw his house.

All Over but the Shoutin' focuses on Bragg's childhood, his interactions with his brothers, being young during the Civil Rights movement, class relations in northeast Alabama and the regular challenges of teenage life. While Bragg cut up in school, he took a journalism class that changed his life. Due to a murder in town, Bragg and other poor, black or mentally handicapped boys in town were rounded up as suspects simply because of their race and class. Bragg was so furious and humiliated he vowed to get out of his hometown and started taking night classes at Jacksonville State and sports writing for local newspapers, the Talladega Daily Home and the Jacksonville News.

The second half of the book covers Bragg's adulthood up until 1996. In 1980, Bragg took a job as a reporter for the Anniston Star, and from 1986 to 1989 he wrote for the Birmingham News. In March 1989, Bragg moved to Tampa to write for the St. Petersburg Times, first as a foreign correspondent, which took him to then war-torn Haiti and then as a national correspondent, which led him to cover the race riots in Miami. In 1992, Bragg won a Nieman fellowship at Harvard, and in 1994 Bragg was hired briefly at the L. A. Times and then as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. He was quickly promoted to regional correspondent for the South and moved to Atlanta.

Bragg explains how his brothers grew up, how Sam turned out fine but how Mark became an alcoholic like Charles and how much Margaret worried about him. He often describes his visits home and how little people were impressed by his accomplishments, which he didn't mind. He describes in horrible detail the carnage and extreme poverty during his two trips to Haiti and gives his unique Southern perspective on Harvard and the New York Times.

In the final part of the book, Bragg wins the Pulitzer and takes his mother on an unusual and deeply moving trip to New York City, where she saw Bragg receive the Pulitzer Bragg had also made enough money to follow through with his vow to "get even with life" by buying his mother a nice house. While the house didn't fix all of their problems, it was a symbolic victory over the hand they had been dealt in life.
That's all
Haha
In what era did Rick's parents grow up?
the 50s and 60s
How does Rick describe the area in which his parents were born and raised?
the poor old south.
What did NOT change in Rick's parent's world as the times changes.
the religion
What was acceptable practice and what was not in the foothills?
not to be able to read; not to be able to fight
What sickness killed Ricks father?
Tuburculosis
What did the box contain that Rick's father gave to him on his last visit?
classical literature
How did Charles feel about going to Korea to kill soldiers?
he had no problem with the notion
How did the weather make the war worse in Korea?
it was freezing cold
How did Charles kill the assassin in Korea?
he drowned him
What payment was most likely used for the doctor who helped give birth to Rick's mother?
Bumdrum's homemade likker
Why were Margaret's sister's better off in life than she was?
they married better
What was Margaret's first real toy?
a wooden turtle on a string
What was the reason that Charles whipped his daughter, Margaret at the age of thirteen?
kickin' her sister so hard in bed one night
What reason did grandpa Charlie have for shooting a neighbor woman?
she came at him with a knife
What did Charles tell Margaret about going back to her husband when she came home for the second time?
she should never go back
Who drove Margaret to the hospital when she gave birth to Rick?
Aunt Gracie Juanita
What did Margaret eat when the children where small?
the scraps from their plates
Where did Margaret take the children to find "treasure?"
the dump
How did Sam torture Rick in the outhouse?
he locked him in with a tomcat
Why was Rick rushed to the hospital as a young boy?
he sucked a plastic berry up his nose
What did Grandma Ab do the last time her grandchildren drove away with their father and mother?
she ran out into the middle of the road and stared
What was the house like that Rick's father brought them to when Rick was six years old?
big but decrepit
What was the name of Rick's first reading group at school?
Jaybirds
When sober, how did Bobby Braggs dress for dinner?
in overalls
How would Bobby Braggs fix his hip when it went out on him?
his wife would pull his leg until it popped back in
Who came to the city auditorium to talk to the white people of the country?
George Wallace
What did Margaret expect Rick's father to do after she poured his whiskey down the drain?
hit her
What did Sam and Rick do to their father on the night he attempted to hit Rick?
they beat him
What did the poor black family down the road do for Rick's family?
they brought them corn to eat
What was meant by the quote " didn't have no papers on him"?
the hospital didn't have papers on the dead baby
Who's death motivated Rick to write this book?
Grandmother
What is Rick's biggest reason for writing this book?
For his momma he states "this story is for hers, as have been ,in smaller ways ,all the stories I have ever told."
Where was Rick's mother and father born?
At the foot hills of the Appalachians mountains along the Alabama-Georgia line.
When was Rick Bragg born?
In the summer of 1959
What was Rick Bragg's granddaddy name ?
Bobby Bragg
In what year did Rick Bragg's father die and disease killed him and how old was he ?
He died in 1974 ' TB / tuberculosis is the disease that killed him, and he was 40 year old.
What was thee two last presents that Rick Bragg's father gave him right before he died ?
A brand new Remington .22 rifle and three cardboard egg carton full of books.
What did Rick Brag father tell him when he ask him about the war in Korea when he was a boy?
he said "Nawwwww because he did not like to dwell on it,that he should just thank the lord that he did not have to go."
When did Rick Bragg's father finally tell him about the war in Korea?
He finally told him when he went to when visit his father was dying?
When and where was Rick Bragg's mother born?
April 23rd 1937 in Floyd county, Georgia
What was Rick Bragg's mom's parents names?
Charlie and Ava Bundrum
What was Rick Bragg's momma name?
Margaret Marie maiden name Bundrum after she was married Bragg.
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