Southern Identity Archives – Scalawag

How Aristotle Jones Became the 'Appalachian Soul Man'

by Chadd Scott April 8, 2026April 8, 2026

Aristotle Jones learned Appalachian Soul music porch-pickin' with his grandfather Robert Jones. The elder Jones didn't play Bill Monroe or Carter Family Appalachian music. He played Black Appalachian music informed by the South, by gospel, by Delta blues.

MEDIA, CULTURE, & MEANING

'South of Midnight' is a spellbinding Southern Gothic video game

by Noella Williams March 25, 2026March 25, 2026

The Louisville Art Workshop

SCALAWAG UPDATES

Southern Cultures: A Scalawag Reading List

by Tea Troutman December 30, 2025December 29, 2025

MEDIA, CULTURE, & MEANING

As the South goes, so goes the nation

by Aja Arnold December 1, 2025December 1, 2025

MEDIA, CULTURE, & MEANING

Haints and Sinners: A Southern Gothic and Hoodoo Media List

by Sherronda J. Brown October 31, 2025October 31, 2025

Toxic Explosion at Louisiana Oil Plant Leaves Black Community Coated in Chemical Fallout

by Adam Mahoney October 9, 2025October 9, 2025

Molded in the Delta: The Mississippi Origins of Steve Muhammad

by Shanna B. Tiayon May 13, 2025May 13, 2025

Behind the Plants: Living in the Shadow of Industry on Cancer Alley

Behind the Plants: Living in the Shadow of Industry on Cancer Alley

by Wayan Barre April 17, 2025April 17, 2025

The hidden history of Abram Colby

They tried to bury him: The hidden history of Abram Colby

by Greer Brigham March 26, 2025May 27, 2026

Tour guide Marcus McDonald not only shares Charleston history, he makes his own.

Marcus McDonald shares Charleston history and makes his own

by Sheeka Sanahori March 11, 2025March 11, 2025

Cycling History: The Selma to Montgomery Bike Ride on the 60th Anniversary

by Angela Hollowell March 6, 2025April 9, 2025

Surviving Fascism: Lessons from Jim Crow

Surviving Fascism: Lessons from Jim Crow

by Joel Cook February 6, 2025February 6, 2025

Who’s Keeping Our History Alive? Black Preservation in South Florida

Who's Keeping Our History Alive?: Black Preservation in South Florida

by Cordell Jones December 5, 2024December 5, 2024

We Are The BreadCrumbs: What Trans Alabamians Already Know About The Election

POLITICS & THE PEOPLE

We Are The BreadCrumbs: What Trans Alabamians Already Know About The Election

by T.C. Caldwell and Jose Vazquez November 4, 2024November 4, 2024

On Being Undocumented in Houston’s Gaza Solidarity Student Movement

POLITICS & THE PEOPLE

On Being Undocumented in Houston's Gaza Solidarity Student Movement

by Anonymous October 31, 2024October 31, 2024

Florida’s LGBTQ+ community defies queer repression with advocacy and preservation

POLITICS & THE PEOPLE

Florida's LGBTQ+ community defies queer repression with advocacy & preservation

by Cordell Jones October 30, 2024October 30, 2024

Columbia SC Rallies to Honor The Candy Shop, once a Landmark Black Gay Bar

The Candy Shop: Columbia SC Rallies to Honor Landmark Black Gay Bar

by Marianne Dhenin October 29, 2024October 28, 2024

The changing seasons are an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. Nnenna Freelon takes us on a walk through the woods to contemplate autumn and the possibility of renewal.

Falling

by Nnenna Freelon November 28, 2023December 14, 2023

A wife for nearly 40 years, Nnenna Freelon now wonders what to make of the term widow when she still feels the significance of her marriage well after her husband's death in Black Widow, the final installment in the season of Great Grief, Wailing Women.

Black Widow

by Nnenna Freelon November 21, 2023November 28, 2023

Hair holds our history, personality, identity—and our grief. In episode 3 of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon visits her mother’s beauty salon, where generations of Black women have gathered to discuss their hairstory—the grief over it, and the grief under it.

Hairstory

by Nnenna Freelon November 21, 2023November 28, 2023

Southern youth are speaking out on the mental health crisis, the challenges they face, and anxieties they hope to overcome.

POLITICS & THE PEOPLE

Notes on 'In Their Own Words,' a series on the youth mental health crisis

by Rainesford Stauffer September 14, 2023November 13, 2023

Why your new diet is antiblack

by Ko Bragg and Da'Shaun L. Harrison January 3, 2023December 1, 2023

Bilingual in sarcasm y solidaridad

by Alex Temblador March 29, 2022September 27, 2023

A queer and in-color geography: From Mumbai to West Virginia

by Anjali Enjeti March 3, 2022March 4, 2022

Breaking Through COVID: What data can't tell about the South's vaccine rates

by Scalawag Editors and Scalawag Team September 9, 2021September 21, 2021

For Black cowboys—from inner-city Philly to small-town Texas—horses and riding are a way of life

by Nick Lehr, The Conversation July 16, 2021

'T-Pain was important because he was ours'

by Israel Daramola March 8, 2021March 8, 2021

This is damn sure not our grandparents' rhythm and blues

by Marcus K. Dowling February 16, 2021February 16, 2021

'A democracy we didn't achieve 50 years ago'

by Alice Driver January 5, 2021January 5, 2021

POLITICS & THE PEOPLE

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

by Anonymous December 17, 2020February 4, 2025

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