The South

Carrie Allen Tipton's From Dixie to Rocky Top: Music and Meaning in Southeastern Conference Football is a dive into a previously-neglected area of musicological research: the origins and cultural significance of some of the most recognizable tunes in the "football-haunted" South.

By 2030, the federal government wants infant mortality to fall to 5 or fewer deaths per 1,000 live births. According to annual data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 states have already met or surpassed that goal, including Nevada, New York, and California. But none of those states are in the South, where infant mortality is by far the highest in the country, with Mississippi’s rate of 8.12 deaths per 1,000 live births ranking worst.

How did conceptions of a tradition-bound, "timeless" South shape Americans' views of themselves and their society's political and cultural fragmentations, following the turbulent 1960s? In his book, The South of the Mind: American Imaginings of White Southerness, 1960–1980 (2018, UGA Press), Zachary J. Lechner bridges the fields of southern studies and southern history in an effort to answer that question. Wide-ranging chapters detail the iconography of the white South during the civil rights movement; hippies' fascination with white southern life; the Masculine South of George Wallace, Walking Tall, and Deliverance; the differing southern rock stylings of the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd; and the healing southerners of Jimmy Carter. Zachary Lechner talks with Walter Edgar about how one cannot hope to understand recent U.S. history without exploring how people have conceived the South, as well as what those conceptualizations have omitted.

A cold snap blanketing the Deep South has upended water systems as local officials struggle to repair widespread leaks and broken pipes. Breakdowns in infrastructure arose in rapid succession after days of freezing temperatures in areas where extended periods of frigid weather is abnormal. Officials have encouraged people across the South to drip faucets during the prolonged cold snap because water moving through pipes is less likely to freeze. Localities across the region have issued boil water advisories and are distributing bottled water for basic needs. The water woes are acute in places with already troubled water systems

How did conceptions of a tradition-bound, "timeless" South shape Americans' views of themselves and their society's political and cultural fragmentations,…

How did conceptions of a tradition-bound, "timeless" South shape Americans' views of themselves and their society's political and cultural fragmentations, following the turbulent 1960s? In his book, The South of the Mind: American Imaginings of White Southerness, 1960–1980 (2018, UGA Press), Zachary J. Lechner bridges the fields of southern studies and southern history in an effort to answer that question. Wide-ranging chapters detail the iconography of the white South during the civil rights movement; hippies' fascination with white southern life; the Masculine South of George Wallace, Walking Tall, and Deliverance; the differing southern rock stylings of the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd; and the healing southerners of Jimmy Carter. Zachary Lechner talks with Walter Edgar about how one cannot hope to understand recent U.S. history without exploring how people have conceived the South, as well as what those conceptualizations have omitted.

Over 100 service industry workers have gathered in the capital of the state with the county's lowest unionization rate to launch a new union and try to boost labor organizing across the U.S. South. The Union of Southern Service Workers hopes to win remedies for what it sees as a common set of grievances across a region historically hostile to unions. Its members cut a broad swath across the service industry and work in places like fast food chains, retail stores, warehouses and nursing homes.

The American South has experienced remarkable change over the past half century. Black voter registration has increased, the region’s politics have shifted, and in-migration has increased its population many fold. At the same time, many outward signs of regional distinctiveness have faded. But two professors of political science write that these changes have allowed for new types of Southern identity to emerge.

The American South has experienced remarkable change over the past half century. Black voter registration has increased, the region’s politics have shifted, and in-migration has increased its population many fold. At the same time, many outward signs of regional distinctiveness have faded. But two professors of political science write that these changes have allowed for new types of Southern identity to emerge.

The American South has experienced remarkable change over the past half century. Black voter registration has increased, the region’s politics have…