From the Archives: Julian Bond on politics

Fifty-eight years ago this month, the Georgia legislature refused to seat newly elected state representative Julian Bond because of his stance against the war in Vietnam. To mark that anniversary, we are republishing a 1976 Southern Exposure interview with him. (1/10/2023)

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Dollar store workers organize in New Orleans

The U.S. dollar store industry is booming, but its workers struggle with low pay and dangerous working conditions. In New Orleans, they're organizing with help from Step Up Louisiana, a community-based organization that builds power to win economic justice. (1/11/2023)

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FDA's abortion pill update has limited impact across the South

The Food and Drug Administration is now allowing pharmacies to stock the abortion medication mifepristone. But most Southern states have near-total abortion bans while the rest restrict abortion pill access, so the decision does not make it easier for most residents seeking to terminate pregnancies. (1/13/2023)

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Georgia officials consider changes to the state's runoff election system

After another contentious U.S. Senate runoff election in Georgia, state officials are reckoning with a cumbersome and expensive system that's rooted in Jim Crow, and that burdens voters and taxpayers.

Institute welcomes Maydha Devarajan as 2023 Julian Bond Fellow

The Institute for Southern Studies, publisher of Facing South, is excited to announce Maydha Devarajan as the recipient of the 2023 Julian Bond Fellowship.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Maydha comes to the Institute and Facing South after working as a reporter at the Chatham News + Record in rural central North Carolina. At UNC, Maydha conducted interviews and transcribed oral histories about Asians in the South for the Southern Oral History Program. Other stints have included internships with the Raleigh News & Observer and UNC Center for Innovation & Sustainability, and serving as an editor for her college newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel.

"I'm really honored to have been selected as the 2023 Julian Bond Fellow,” Maydha said. "I've long admired the work of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies, and as a native North Carolinian, I couldn't be more excited and grateful to get started covering issues of justice, equity and democracy in the South."

Elisha Brown, the Institute's 2021 Julian Bond Fellow, is now a full-time reporter for Facing South, covering reproductive justice, inequality, and other issues. Makaelah Walters, the 2022 fellow, works as project associate at the Institute.

Entering its fourth year, the Julian Bond Fellowship is a nine-month program to train and support a new generation of social change journalists and researchers in the South. The program honors Julian Bond, the civil rights veteran, journalist, and co-founder of the Institute who passed in 2015.

The Julian Bond Fellowship is made possible thanks to many individual and institutional donors to the Institute. You can support the Institute and its training and development programs by making a tax-deductible contribution today.

Companies break promises to stop funding Trump coup backers

Over 100 corporations said they'd reconsider their political giving after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, but most continued donating to members of Congress who voted against certifying President Biden's 2020 election. Among them are Fortune 500 firms with headquarters in the South, including AT&T, Delta Air Lines, and Walmart.