Salvation South

A North Carolina poet remembers a long-ago night of young love, interrupted by some ominous figures.

Guitarist and singer Jake Xerxes Fussell grew up steeped in folklore, thanks to his musicologist father and textile artist mother. Like his parents, the younger Fussell is always searching through the back catalogs of Southern culture — but rendering art that is always of the moment.

After living in Japan, a young George Lancaster returned to these shores for seventh grade in a Georgia middle school — and found segregation still lingering. These are his memories.

This week in Salvation South, we introduce you to Jake Xerxes Fussell, whose music updates Southern songs from long ago.

Sometimes, the actions we should take are clear. A North Carolina poet takes a hard look at what happens when we fail to take them.

A night spent searching the web for ghost stories from his home state of Virginia led Scott Hurd into the state’s dark history of sterilization and breeding to create a white master race.

This week, Salvation South reflects on matters of faith and tells stories about love and reconciliation.

The Clotilda was the last slave ship to sail from western Africa to the American South. When slavery ended, the boat’s captives built Africatown, their own self-sustaining community on Mobile Bay. With this week’s release of a new Netflix documentary, their story is about to reach the entire world.

Virginia poet and novelist Jim Minick brings us a beautiful poem about a love for birds — and about love itself.

In Spring Creek, Florida, three young oyster farming operations demonstrate the modern response to the decline of traditional oyster harvesting along the Panhandle.

A tale about Florida oysters, a remembrance of grandma’s apple-spice jam and a poem about a love of birds (and love itself).

His grandmother made the best apple-spice jam this side of heaven. Keeping her tradition alive is about more than preserving food. It preserves memories, too.