“The Cash Value of Racism in America—and Its Schools” presented by Tracie McMillan After journalist Tracie McMillan began reporting on the material advantages of racial privilege in America, she ended up in the public schools of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Using the story of two millennial sisters—the Becker girls—as a starting point, McMillan pieces together a seventy-year history …

Our Movement Starts Here: Film Screening and Panel Ben Chavis, Dollie Burwell, Melanie Ho, and John Rash Our Movement Starts Here is a feature-length documentary film by directors John Rash and Melanie Ho that chronicles the story of a rural, majority-Black community in North Carolina that made history in 1982 by fighting the state’s toxic …

“Southern Environmental Justice” presented by Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis In this SouthTalk, Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis will speak on the evolution of the environmental justice movement, which is often said to have started as a local grassroots movement in North Carolina in 1982. Today the environmental justice movement has grown into a global movement for …

“Surplussed Atlanta: The Built Environment of Homelessness” presented by Chuck Steffen Downtown Atlanta is known for its glass office towers and professional sports venues. It is also known for having the densest population of unhoused persons in the metropolitan area. For nearly half a century, a succession of city governments, hotel and convention interests, real …

“When the South Was West: The Mississippi and the Founding of the Nation” presented by Susan Gaunt Stearns In 1789, three weeks after George Washington took office, twenty-two-year-old Andrew Jackson stood along the banks of the Mississippi River at Natchez and swore his allegiance to Spain. Washington’s oath is celebrated by American historians and laypeople …

“Making ‘Actual Freedom’: The Civil War and Enslaved People’s Legal Consciousness” Gilder-Jordan Lecture in Southern Cultural History presented by Thavolia Glymph  A now large and robust body of literature has enriched our understanding of the flight of enslaved people to Union lines during the Civil War. Relatively little attention, however, has been paid to the role …