Pauli Murray documentary shines light on an overlooked trailblazer

Facing South interviewed co-director Julie Cohen and producer and writer Talleah Bridges McMahon, two creators behind "My Name is Pauli Murray," a new documentary that details the triumphs and struggles of the groundbreaking civil rights and feminist lawyer and advocate who was raised in Durham, North Carolina. (9/29/2021)

Read More >

VOICES: UNC's horrifying history of environmental racism

Chapel Hill has a reputation as a liberal town, but it's always been a racially unjust society — in large part because of the actions of the University of North Carolina, the nation's oldest public university. The same school that once denied clean water to its Black workers and their families now dumps toxic coal plant pollution on them. (9/21/2021)

Read More >

In fight over COVID mask rules, Southern appeals courts side with GOP over schools

Governors and legislatures across the South have banned public schools from requiring masks to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The bans have been successfully challenged in lower courts, but appellate courts overturned some of those rulings. Federal courts in several states are taking up the question of whether mask mandate bans violate the rights of students with disabilities. (9/29/2021)

Read More >

The state of the death penalty in the South a decade after a controversial execution

It's been 10 years since Georgia executed Troy Davis despite questions about his guilt and calls for mercy from world leaders. One Southern state has outlawed capital punishment since then, but most states in the region still have death sentences on the books. (9/24/2021)

Read More >

FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Elaine Massacre

This week marks the 102nd anniversary of the Elaine Massacre in Arkansas, when a union organizing attempt by Black sharecroppers was met with deadly violence by mobs of white people. From the archives of Southern Exposure, the print forerunner to Facing South, we're republishing an account of the tragedy drawn in part from oral histories of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union that appeared in the same issue. (10/1/2021)

Read More >

FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Southern Tenant Farmers' Union

In 1974, Southern Exposure, the print forerunner to Facing South, published an issue of oral histories that included recollections of people who'd been involved with the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union. Many of them refer to the Elaine Massacre, a mass murder of rural Black Arkansans by white mobs in response to sharecropper organizing attempts that took place 102 years ago this week. We're reprinting those oral histories in memory of the massacre. (10/1/2021)

Read More >

A Senate fight is brewing over the Freedom to Vote Act — and the filibuster

Senate Democrats recently introduced the Freedom to Vote Act, a compromise alternative to the For the People Act, far-reaching pro-democracy legislation blocked by a Republican filibuster. If the GOP again uses the filibuster to obstruct the bill, Democrats say they'll take on reforming the Senate policy, which requires 60 votes to end debate on a measure. But that will require moving conservative Democrats like West Virginia's Joe Manchin, a filibuster defender who's also among the new bill's sponsors.

Julian Bond Fellowship application deadline extended to Oct. 6

Are you an early-career journalist or researcher who cares about justice and democracy in the South?

The application deadline for the Julian Bond Fellowship has been extended to Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 5 p.m. ET.

The Julian Bond Fellowship is named in honor of the civil rights legend and co-founder of the Institute for Southern Studies, publisher of Facing South. The program aims to promote new voices in Southern media and support early-career, public interest journalists and researchers in the South.

Now in its third year, the Fellowship is a nine-month, full-time position. Fellows will be provided a $5,000 monthly stipend, and additional resources for training, conferences, and research expenses. For the 2022 Fellowship, the Institute will accept applications for remote fellowships and those based at the Institute's offices in Durham, North Carolina.

Journalists and researchers of color are strongly encouraged to apply, as are others who believe their presence would contribute substantially to diversifying the media and public scholar landscape in the South. Candidates must have at least two to three years of experience writing for a public audience, and a demonstrated commitment to promoting justice and democracy.

Visit here for more information or to submit an application. Questions? Email [email protected] (no calls, please).

Keeping the expanded child tax credit would ease the South's child poverty crisis

Earlier this year, Congress approved expanding the child tax credit and paying it out in advance as part of the American Rescue Plan economic stimulus bill. As Democrats discuss extending the credit, advocates argue that making it permanent would slash child poverty rates, which are especially high across the South.