Personal Essay Archives – Scalawag

There is no healing in an antiblack world

by Da'Shaun Harrison February 1, 2023February 1, 2023

'We know what it means to be profiled, criminalized, incarcerated, and murdered by police. That trauma doesn't die with us.'

Successors and failures: Adulting after death

by Maya Miller January 25, 2023January 25, 2023

Grief, a (grand)mother tongue

by Mele Girma January 10, 2023

Haunting the archive

by Victoria Newton Ford December 2, 2022December 1, 2022

Something about mysticism, Coyote's Ghost, and being afraid of owls

by Autumn Fourkiller October 21, 2022November 16, 2022

Remembering Tyrik

by Ireashia Bennett October 4, 2022October 4, 2022

'beyond a better hell' / talking to ghosts: a mixtap/e/ssay

by A.D. Carson September 9, 2022September 9, 2022

'Impact of an Icon': Grieving Young Dolph in South Memphis

by Dorian Record June 22, 2022June 22, 2022

Southern Politics

This couple wants you to know that conjugal visits are only legal in 4 states

by Steve Higginbotham & Jordana Rosenfeld June 21, 2022June 21, 2022

'I'll never have closure.' What TV gets wrong about having a dad in prison.

by Jordan Gass-Pooré June 20, 2022November 16, 2022

Mildred's Mississippi: 'Roll of Thunder' as a love letter home

by Adria R. Walker May 24, 2022May 23, 2022

'Left to hold my grief alone.' Grieving platonic love in a culture of romantic domination.

by Sherronda J. Brown April 7, 2022April 7, 2022

Life and Death in Strawberry Land

by Autumn Fourkiller February 14, 2022March 15, 2022

In portraits and letters: 'Being free is not the same as freedom'

by Jason Kerzinski August 17, 2021November 16, 2022

The old devil and the new details

by Mab Segrest March 29, 2021April 29, 2021

In Appalachia, the face of addiction is white—and so is the story of recovery

by Crystal Good February 26, 2021April 6, 2021

When God Calls My Name

by Ashley M. Jones January 11, 2021October 4, 2021

Behind the scenes in Black Appalachia

by Crystal Good December 23, 2020December 23, 2020

Southern Politics

To shift the media narrative about the South, we have to rebuild it altogether

by Anoa Changa December 17, 2020December 17, 2020

Southern Politics

'If I asked my family to get rid of a bumper sticker, they would tell me to quit my job.'

by Iliana Hagenah December 17, 2020December 17, 2020

Southern Politics

I ran from my church after Trayvon Martin's murder—but not from my religion

by Courtney Napier December 17, 2020December 18, 2020

'I wanted to wear a purple ball gown with a crimson silk cape'

by Cynthia R. Greenlee November 3, 2020November 3, 2020

Letter from a New Normal: Finding hope in purgatory

by DANTE August 20, 2020March 15, 2022

As ICE travel bans target international students, communities resist through care

by Anastasia Kārkliņa July 17, 2020October 1, 2020

The Remedy: The Costello family's 'next-best thing' spaghetti sauce

by Mike Costello July 14, 2020November 19, 2020

The Remedy: Mrs. Betty's macaroni-and-cheese

by Cynthia R. Greenlee July 10, 2020November 19, 2020

The Remedy: Grandma Lacey's Cornbread

by Samantha Willis June 30, 2020November 19, 2020

A Love Letter to Black Queers in the Rural South

by Darius Scott May 12, 2020October 1, 2020

Losing Ground

by Alejandra Rosa February 10, 2020October 1, 2020

The Queer South: Where the past is not past, and the future is now

by Minnie Bruce Pratt January 27, 2020December 3, 2020