During the 19th century, the southern states were called "King Cotton", for the sheer amount of cotton we produced. What happened that caused that region to lose the title? Do they still produce cotton now in those regions?
Cotton became king in the South after Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1792. Short fiber cotton thrived in the South, and the cotton gin allowed it to be processed efficiently. That much comes straight the text book I use for my sophomores.
Cotton was still the predominant cash crop in the South until the 1910s. The boll weevil came from Mexico to Alabama (I'm nor certain when it arrived in other states) in 1915. Farmers lost their entire cotton crop, in some cases. It was in the 1910s that Southern farmers first began growing peanuts on a large scale. The Wiregrass region is still a major producer of peanuts, and of course, Alabama's Tuskegee Institute is closely associated with George Washington Carver, and his many uses for peanuts. Enterprise, Alabama even has a statue celebrating the boll weevil, for the economic growth it brought to that part of the South.
If you're interested in the Wiregrass region or the creation of a postbellum Southern mythos, I recommend Art Remillard's Southern Civil Religion.
If you're interested in Southern agriculture and the poor whites who worked in agriculture after the Civil War, I'd recommend Poor But Proud, by Wayne Flynt.
Let me know if you have any questions! Hope this helped!