Unearthing the Weeping Time: Savannah’s Ten Broeck Race Course and 1859 Slave Sale

Overview Introduction The blades of grass on all the Butler estates are outnumbered by the tears that are poured out in agony at the wreck that has been wrought in happy homes, and the crushing grief that has been laid on loving hearts. —Mortimer Thomson (Philander Doesticks)1Q. K. Philander Doesticks, “Great Auction Sale of Slaves […]
Natasha Trethewey Interviews Elizabeth Alexander

Overview Interview with Natasha Trethewey Part 2: Alexander discusses growing up in NYC and Washington DC, DC as Upsouth, identifications with Blackness and southernness Part 3: Alexander discusses southernness and urban space, and reads from “Letter: Blues,” “Frank Willis,” “Talk Radio, DC” Part 4: Alexander reads “Race” and comments on the pale-skinned body; Trethewey compares “Race” and Phillip […]
Insistent Traces

Overview Readings Interested in submitting your work to Southern Spaces? Similar Publications Sections
Counterblast: How the Atlanta Temple Bombing Strengthened the Civil Rights Cause

Overview Atlanta Temple Bombing On the morning of Sunday, October 12, 1958, shortly after 3:30 a.m., an explosion ripped through the Reform Temple on Peachtree Street in Atlanta. Although no one was hurt, the blast, which woke people from their sleep several blocks away, caused almost $200,000 of damage.1Atlanta Constitution, October 13, 1958; New York […]
Southern Memory, Southern Monuments, and the Subversive Black Mammy

Overview Southern Memory, Southern Monuments, and the Subversive Black Mammy Question and Answer Wallace-Sanders responds to questions about the photographs she uses, the proposed Mammy Memorial Institute, the political responses to the proposed mammy memorial in Washington DC, and the mammy figure within Lost Cause discourse. Interested in submitting your work to Southern Spaces? […]
Corporations, Corruption, and the Modern Lobby: A Gilded Age Story of the West and the South in Washington, DC

Overview Corporations, Corruption, and the Modern Lobby: Part 2: White describes the lengths both men went to in an attempt to gain subsidies and credit for their respective railroads Part 3: White shows how Scott and Huntington cultivated political “friendships” to gain corporate influence in federal government Part 4: White addresses questions about the on-going significance of transcontinental […]
Watching the Surface for a Sign

Overview Readings Patrick Phillips reads “Brass Knuckles.” Poem text Patrick Phillips reads “The Chimney.” Poem text. Patrick Phillips reads “The Flood.” Poem text Patrick Phillips reads “Heaven.” Poem text Patrick Phillips reads an excerpt from his novel Chattahoochee. Excerpt Interview with Natasha Trethewey In this interview, conducted during the 2009 Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference […]
A Plague of Bulldozers: Celestine Sibley and Suburban Sprawl

Overview Introduction Roswell development, 2008 In her 1995 murder mystery, A Plague of Kinfolks, journalist and fiction writer Celestine Sibley (1914–1999) made her feelings clear about Atlanta’s sprawl into the area near Roswell, Georgia, about twenty-five miles north of the city. When the book’s protagonist, Kate Mulcay, attends a dinner party in the new neighboring […]
The Morning with Many Tongues

Overview Readings Sean Hill reads the poem “Just as Sure.” Poem text. Sean Hill reads the poem “Nigger Street 1937.” Poem text. Sean Hill reads the poem “The State House Aflame 1833.” Poem text. Sean Hill reads the poem “In Memory Hill Cemetery.” Poem text. Interview with Natasha Trethewey In these excerpts from a December 17, 2008 conversation, Sean […]
American and British Slave Trade Abolition in Perspective

Overview American and British Slave Trade Abolition in Perspective Part 2: Davis discusses connections between enslaved African labor, trans-Atlantic trade, and emerging anti-slavery movements Part 3: Davis discusses three major factors leading to US and British decisions to abolish the trade of enslaved Africans Part 4: Davis explores decreasing support for the trade of enslaved […]