The Rodin of the Delta
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The renowned Mississippi sculptor Bill Beckwith has never stopped reshaping his own life, just like he shaped the bronze of William Faulkner on a park bench in Oxford’s town square.
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Can ‘Ma’am’ Be Saved?
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Every Southern kid grows up knowing the deal with “ma’am.” Writer and food editor Kathleen Purvis reckons with whether the required honorific is still worthy of honor. For her, the answer is yes, with some qualifications.
Read MoreWho Owns the Land on Which We Stand?
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How the lack of a will and a family dispute have prevented the Ogletrees, an Atlanta family The Bitter Southerner has covered for the past year, from getting running water.
Read MoreThe Music of the Murders
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Forty years ago, the generation that shaped Southern hip-hop also lived through the Atlanta Child Murders, the kidnapping and killing of 30 African Americans between the ages of 7 and 27. With the murders in the public eye again and Mayor Keisha Lance-Bottoms’ recent decision to re-examine the evidence, Dr. Joycelyn Wilson investigates how her generation’s music was shaped by — and still memorializes — the trauma.
Read MoreTeaching for Social Justice, Y’all
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Fighting hate through education to help students — and the world — a more tolerant place
Read MoreCan We Talk?
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After covering protests over police killings, Charlotte’s Michael Graff attends a seminar designed to teach folks “to disagree with grace again.” Is it possible?
Read MoreOf Figurative Paintings and a First Lady
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Kelundra Smith sits down with Amy Sherald to talk about her work and her iconic painting of former First Lady Michelle Obama
Read MoreMark DeFriest’s Long Road
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In 1980, a young Florida man was sentenced to four years in prison for theft. He wound up doing almost 40 years because he repeatedly (and successfully) escaped. Last month, he was released. But it didn’t last long.
Read MoreIn Our Lightning Past
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M.O. Walsh, author of the bestselling novel My Sunshine Away, brings us an essay on fishing from an upcoming collection, Gather at the River, in which 25 contemporary authors tell fishing tales.
Read MoreAthens in Harmony
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For four years, Athens, Georgia, musicians and activists have used every MLK holiday weekend to cross the lines of genre and race to make music together. Bertis Downs tells us about his turn at the mic last month.
Read MoreAn Ode to the Loser Teachers
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A mind-numbingly dismissive quote from the president’s son prompts our teachers to write a full-throated defense of their co-workers — and their noble profession.
Read MoreThe Day My Father Died
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When LaRue Cook left his editor’s job at ESPN in Connecticut and returned home to Tennessee, he made a living as an Uber driver — and wrote the upcoming book, Man in the (Rearview) Mirror, from which we excerpt this essay.
Read MoreSomething Moves
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Our editor Chuck Reece steps into our Thursday columns with some thoughts on keeping things together when the world feels like it’s falling apart.
Read MoreLaid Back Country Teacher
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Introducing David Prince — former Kentucky Council for the Social Studies Teacher of the Year — by day; Laid Back Country Picker by night.
Read MoreAdventures in Voting
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North Georgia writer Candice Dyer took an elderly couple to vote. This is the story of how one couple met resistance from poll workers in November.
Read MoreSam Bush, Revived Again
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A new Amazon documentary dives into the triumphs and trials of the mandolin player who changed the direction of an old Southern form: bluegrass.
Read MorePouring and Shooting
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Fifteen years ago, Sandlin Gaither took a job tending bar at the Grey Eagle Tavern, a music venue in Asheville, North Carolina. He still serves drinks — but he also has become a photographer of national renown for his portraits of the musicians who play the beloved nightclub.
Read MoreNashville’s History, in Music
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Historical fiction is a thing. Why not music? Country songwriters Elizabeth Elkins and Vanessa Olivarez, collectively known as Granville Automatic, have turned Nashville’s history of deception, debauchery, love, and war into an album.
Read MoreHow Southern Teachers Can Fight Anti-Semitism
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All Y’all Social Justice Collective’s Rebekah Cordova joins Adam Jordan and Todd S. Hawley to build a strategy for Southern teachers to address anti-Semitism social justice.
Read MoreClassic(ish) Holiday Tipples
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There’s no time quite like the holidays to indulge in drinks central to longtime — or new — traditions. Enjoy some classic(ish) drinks and some completely new spins on old favorites.
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