Testifying and Telling: Frank X Walker’s Poetic Civil War History
In his new collection, the Affrilachian Poets founder gives voice to Black Civil War soldiers and their families, aiming to uncover hidden truths inside Southern history.
Stories
The Hero Who Wanted to Die
Daniel Wallace’s brother-in-law was his hero. But in the journals he left behind, Wallace discovered the darkness that claimed his idol’s life.
By Chuck Reece and Photographs by Kate Medley /
The Coolest Guy in the World
Daniel Wallace interprets two pages from the revealing, long-lost journals of his brother-in-law, William Nealy.
By Daniel Wallace and Photographs by Kate Medley /
The Boy Who Could Not Fly
Chapter 1, excerpted from “This Isn’t Going to End Well: The True Story of a Man I Thought I Knew”
By Daniel Wallace /
All That Ends Well Is Not
Daniel Wallace is one of the South’s greatest writers, and to dive into his most recent volume is to reckon with how hard it is to make peace with yourself and with others.
By Chuck Reece /
Hellhounds and Phantoms
The Smithsonian’s “Biography of a Phantom” answers countless questions — and raises countless more — about Robert Johnson, the Mississippi bluesman who legendarily sold his soul to the devil.
By Don McLeese /
Strangers With Doughnuts
Sometimes, you get a treat from the universe just exactly when you need one. And sometimes, if your stars align, it comes glazed with sugar.
By Amanda Dobbs /
American Hope & Prayer
He was singing a song lamenting the murder of George Floyd when a woman who had stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, said she didn’t agree. Not at all.
By Adam Klein /
Maps and Legends
We welcome the renowned music writer Don McLeese to Salvation South with a story about the biggest legend in the history of Southern music.
By Chuck Reece /
Making Sense of Mississippi
O.N. Pruitt was the “picture man” where journalist Berkley Hudson grew up. Pruitt’s photographs helped Hudson understand the state he ran away from — and the state that drew him back.
By Berkley Hudson /
A Talisman From Poseidon
She keeps the murex shell she found on the beach 63 years ago after Hurricane Donna ravaged her island home, and at her house, hurricane season never ends.
By Deb Bowen /
Using My Words
Growing up Black in a small Georgia town was hard enough. But Miriam Delaney Heard also had to break the chains of the religion she was raised in. Her salvation came from writing her own story.
By Miriam Delaney Heard /
Inside the Wonder of Lonnie Holley
Jim Crow dumped its worst on Lonnie Holley. But his globally recognized music and art prove how beautifully he survived the belly of that beast. Just don’t call him an “outsider.”