Two hundred years ago, a freed Charleston slave named Denmark Vesey attempted to lead a rebellion. To many Black people, he is a hero, but his name is still anathema to many whites.

Last week, Charles McNair brought us the story of the 50-year reunion of the Dothan High School class of 1972, the first fully integrated class in that Alabama town. This week, his friend James “Shack” Thompson brings us a remembrance of the Black high school that closed when desegregation happened.

In 1969, the year Charles McNair entered the 10th grade, the Dothan, Alabama, public schools finally integrated. This year, the Dothan High Class of 1972 held its 50-year reunion, where joyous, authentic and honest conversations happened across the lines of race.

In his college admissions essay, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that he first experienced a discrimination-free life while he picked tobacco in a Connecticut field. This is how the story gets told in a car wash.

McCallie’s father and mother were prominent Christian leaders but strong racists in the mid-20th century. Today, Franklin is trying to redeem himself with a program of reconciliation called Chattanooga Connected.

Maud Newton’s upcoming book, “Ancestor Trouble,” explores the problems of family, how we define who we are, and how to truly reckon with our pasts.

In a story from 2021, Maurice Carlos Ruffin and Tad Bartlett hit the road in Louisiana to talk about — and then write about — the South’s future.