In the Deep South there is a most unusual monument paying homage to, of all things, the boll weevil. Enterprise, Alabama, is known as "Weevil City" for this unusual tribute to a devastating pest. In its spoof news commentary, Comedy Central has featured this thirteen-foot statue of a woman holding a huge black weevil over her head. Once when vandals removed the weevil from the statue's arms, Comedy Central captioned the news segment reporting this event as "See No Weevil."1

Carl Sandburg and Brook Benton have also immortalized the boll weevil in a "top 100" folk song that has been enjoyed by generations of Americans. Although we pay tribute to this pesky insect, portrayed through an appealing folk legend, the boll weevil has not always been a laughing matter. For well over a century, this…