This Goodly Land

Jack Bethea (September 19, 1892–July 2, 1928)

Other Names Used

• Andrew Jackson Bethea: full name

Alabama Connections

• Birmingham, Jefferson County: birthplace, childhood residence, adult residence

Selected Works

• Bethea, Jack. Bed Rock. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1924.
• Bethea, Jack. The Deep Seam. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1926.
• Bethea, Jack. Honor Bound. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1927. Rpt. as The Man Trip. London, Eng.: Hodder and Stoughton, 1927.
• Bethea, Jack. Cotton: A Novel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1928.

Biographical Information

Jack Bethea was born and grew up in Birmingham, Ala. He was hired as a cub reporter for The Birmingham Age-Herald while he was still in high school. After graduating, Bethea continued as a reporter with the Age-Herald until 1916, when he became the city editor of The Birmingham Ledger. When the Ledger closed, he worked at a local department store briefly. In 1921, when The Birmingham Post started publication, Bethea was hired as a managing editor. In addition to his journalism career, he also wrote fiction and was a member of the Loafers' Club, a group of Birmingham writers.

Bethea's short stories and serial forms of his novels were published in national magazines such as Collier's. After the publication of his first novel, Bed Rock, in 1924, Bethea took six months off from the newspaper to work on another one. He returned to the Post as news editor and later became managing editor, then editor in 1927. Bethea published four novels between 1924 and 1928. Two were made into motion pictures: Coming Through (from his novel Bed Rock) in 1925 and Honor Bound in 1928. That same year, Bethea became despondent over his slow recovery from an illness. In July 1928, he committed suicide in a downtown Birmingham hotel.

Interests and Themes

Three of Jack Bethea's novels concern the coal mining industry. Honor Bound specifically addresses the convict-lease system. His last novel, Cotton, is about agriculture in Alabama.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Articles

• "Editor, Author Laid to Rest by Friends". The Birmingham News 4 Jul. 1928: A1-A2.
• "Editor of Post Ends Own Life in Hotel Room". The Birmingham Age-Herald 3 Jul. 1928: A1-A2.
• "Jack Bethea a Suicide in Birmingham Hotel". The New York Times 3 Jul. 1928: 11.
• "Last Tribute Is Paid by Friends to Jack Bethea". The Birmingham Age-Herald 4 Jul. 1928: A1-A2.
• "Tributes Paid to Post Editor, Dead by His Own Hand". The Birmingham News 3 Jul. 1928: A1.

Reference Web Sites

• Ross, Joe. "Jack Bethea". The Encyclopedia of Alabama. 2009. Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2336.

Location of Papers

• Birmingham Public Library

Last updated on Dec 12, 2009.