The Institute for Southern Studies is a non-profit media and research center based in
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
, advocating for progressive political and social causes in the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
. Publishes include: ''Southern Exposure'' (1973 to 2011) and ''Facing South (current)''
History and background
Founded in 1970 by veterans of the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
, including
Julian Bond
Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the e ...
, leader in the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...
, and Howard Romaine and
Sue Thrasher
Martha Sue Thrasher is an activist, writer and educator known for her work on civil rights and gathering white students into the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Early life and education
Thrasher is originally from rural West Tennessee, whe ...
, veterans of the
Southern Student Organizing Committee
The Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) was a student activist group in the southern United States during the 1960s, which focused on many political and social issues including: African-American civil rights, opposition to the Vietnam W ...
. The founders helped continue the momentum of 1960s movements for equality and justice, expanding to labor rights, environmental protection and democratic reform.
In 1973, the Institute began publishing ''Southern Exposure'', known for its investigative reporting into Southern power-brokers and its oral histories of Southerners.
''Facing South (2000)'' highlights important news stories in the South, including a piece of progressive political analysis and statistics on particular issues.
In 2005, the Institute launched ''Facing South,'' which is now an online magazine. Current staff include:
Chris Kromm, Executive Director
Sue Sturgis, Editorial Director
Benjamin Barber, Research Associate
Olivia Paschal, Investigative Reporter
Rebekah Barber, Editorial Fellow
Elisha Brown, Julian Bond Fellow
Research and education programs
Focusing on a broad range of issues: economic justice, civil rights, environmental protection and democratic reform. Including:
* Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch, a project tracking the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
;
* the Peace and Security Program, which has examined the South's disproportionate ties to the military and the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
; and,
* the Environment and Energy Reporting Project, launched in 2008, which examines the political and economic influence of the energy industry in the South.
Between 2000 and 2011, The Institute's Voting Rights Watch project has publicized such issues as the cost of
voter ID laws
A voter identification law is a law that requires a person to show some form of identification in order to vote. In some jurisdictions requiring photo IDs, voters who do not have photo ID often must have their identity verified by someone els ...
, barriers to student voting and voter registration "purges" that have prevented citizens from voting.
Current programs include: Census and Redistricting Project, the Energy and Environment Reporting Project, and the Freedom Journalism School.
''Southern Exposure''
In 1973, the Institute began publishing ''Southern Exposure'', a journal covering a broad range of political and cultural issues, with a special emphasis on
investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
and
oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
.
''Southern Exposure'' has been recognized with numerous major journalism awards, including two
George Polk Awards
The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award ...
(Magazine Reporting and Regional Reporting), a
National Magazine Award
The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
(Public Interest Reporting), the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism, and awards from
Investigative Reporters and Editors
Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the quality of journalism, in particular investigative journalism. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences and training ...
, the
National Press Club
Organizations
A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...
, the
Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
, and the
White House Correspondents' Association
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...
.
Notable authors who have contributed to ''Southern Exposure'' include
Julian Bond
Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the e ...
,
Anne Braden
Anne McCarty Braden (July 28, 1924 – March 6, 2006) was an American civil rights activist, journalist, and educator dedicated to the cause of racial equality. She and her husband bought a suburban house for an African American couple during Ji ...
,
Denise Giardina
Denise Giardina is an American novelist. Her book '' Storming Heaven'' was a Discovery Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and received the 1987 W. D. Weatherford Award for the best published work about the Appalachian South. ''The Unquiet Ear ...
,
Jim Hightower
James Allen Hightower (born January 11, 1943) is an American syndicated columnist, Progressivism in the United States, progressive political activist, and author. From 1983 to 1991 he served as the elected commissioner of the Texas Department of ...
,
Bernice Johnson Reagon
Bernice Johnson Reagon (born Bernice Johnson on October 4, 1942) is a song leader, composer, scholar, and social activist, who in the early 1960s was a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee's (SNCC) Freedom Singers in t ...
,
Stetson Kennedy
William Stetson Kennedy (October 5, 1916 – August 27, 2011) was an American author, folklorist and human rights activist. One of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the 20th century, he is remembered for having infiltrated t ...
,
Mab Segrest
Mabelle Massey Segrest, known as Mab Segrest (born February 20, 1949), is an American lesbian feminist, writer, scholar and activist. Segrest is best known for her 1994 autobiographical work ''Memoir of a Race Traitor,'' which won the Editor's Ch ...
,
Lee Smith Lee Smith is the name of:
Arts, entertainment and media
*Lee Smith (fiction author) (born 1944), American author of fiction
*Lee Smith (film editor) (born 1960), Australian film editor
*Lee Smith (musician) (born 1983), American drummer
*Lee Smith ...
,
Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral his ...
and
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was aw ...
. ''Southern Exposure'' published quarterly from 1973–2000 and 2002–2005.
In 2003/2004, ''Southern Exposure'' published "Banking on Misery," an award-winning investigative series that was one of the first in-depth reports on the growing
predatory lending Predatory lending refers to unethical practices conducted by lending organizations during a loan origination process that are unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent. While there are no internationally agreed legal definitions for predatory lending, a 2006 ...
crisis, especially the leading role of
Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...
in predatory banking practices. The
Columbia Journalism Review
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...
later credited ''Southern Exposure'' with breaking the story about Citigroup's dependence on
subprime lending
In finance, subprime lending (also referred to as near-prime, subpar, non-prime, and second-chance lending) is the provision of loans to people in the United States who may have difficulty maintaining the repayment schedule. Historically, subpri ...
(three out of four loans originating from Citigroup in 2000 were from its subprime unit, ''Southern Exposure'' reported) and foreshadowing the 2007/2008 home credit crisis.
After a two-year hiatus, Southern Exposure resumed publication in 2011 with an issue about the health crisis facing
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...
communities in the wake of the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered ...
. The most recent issue was published in 2012.
''Facing South'' online magazine and newsletter
Since 2000, the Institute has published a regular email newsletter, ''Facing South,'' named after a syndicated newspaper column, published by the Institute during the ''Southern Exposure'' years. In 2005, the Institute began a daily blog, also called ''Facing South'', which covers a wide range of political and social issues. ''Facing South'' is now an online magazine with weekly content that includes political analysis, and investigative journalism. Regular contributors include Chris Kromm, executive director of the Institute, Sue Sturgis, ''Facing South''
's editorial director and a former reporter for
The News & Observer
''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...
(Raleigh) and
The Independent Weekly
''InDaily'', initially the online subscriber daily news service is of weekly newspaper, ''The Independent Weekly'', replaced the printed version entirely in November 2010. It shares its website with ''CityMag'', a weekly digital magazine whic ...
, Benjamin Barber, Rebekah Barber, Olivia Paschal, Billy Corriher, and Elisha Brown.
In April/May 2008, ''Facing South'' drew widespread attention for breaking the story about illegal and allegedly deceptive election practices by
Women's Voices Women Vote, a non-profit group in Washington, D.C., with close ties to
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
and
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
. Media coverage resulting from Facing South's investigative report appeared on
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
,
The Charlotte Observer
''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American English-language newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. As of 2020, it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. I ...
,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
,
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
,
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
,
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
,
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
,
TPM Muckraker,
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
,
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
, and dozens of other major outlets. Women's Voices Women Vote settled with the state of North Carolina in October 2008 and agreed to pay a $100,000 fine for not complying with state law. Facing South has also published investigations into conservative megadonor Art Pope, the BP Oil Spill, and poultry industry workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
''Facing South'' now averages a readership of over 40,000 visitors a month.
References
External links
Institute for Southern Studies official website
''Facing South'' Institute online magazine
ArtPopeExposed.com special investigative project
Civil Rights Greensboro: Institute for Southern Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Institute For Southern Studies
Culture of the Southern United States
Magazines published in North Carolina
Magazines established in 1973
Biannual magazines published in the United States
Mass media in Durham, North Carolina