This paper identifies and describes development of rural sociological research in the southern United States. It traces the emergence of rural sociology as a discipline from recognition of problems of rural life in the early 1900's, points out that the northern United States predominated in early research, and discusses why early rural sociological research/teaching did not occur in land grant agricultural colleges. The paper attributes the rapid growth of southern rural sociology to the 1925 Purnell Act which made research funds available to sociologists from state agricultural colleges such as North Carolina State College, the early leader in southern rural sociology. The paper characterizes four development eras for rural sociological research: Depression Years Era which documented much of what is known about rural poverty, farm tenancy, and rural/urban population characteristics; the War Years Era, which turned attention to studies of rural community organization and to manpower and labor research; the Great Society Era, which focused on rural and community development and social change; and the New Rural Sociology Era, which projects a serious, involved concern with rural problem issues of today. The paper concludes that rural sociology in the South, while following national trends, retains a regional focus. (LFL)