Southern culture describes both the lived experience of folks living in and native to the South, as well as the way "The South" is conceptualized in cultural discourses. This year, Scalawag's contributors wrote on the importance of preserving spaces created by Black and queer Southerners as safe havens to live, love, and collectively struggle. 

They also centered the importance of historic preservation and communal education at a time in which The South's fascist state governments insist on legal censorship to erase marginalized folks from official histories and ban those who seek guidance in political struggle from discovering the region's insurgent antifascist tradition. 

Book bans, the destruction of historic spaces, voter suppression, and policies that persecute educators and librarians may be the flagship strategies deployed to forage the present  anti-subversive status quo, but continued efforts to excavate and preserve southern histories of resistance provide southerners the counter-cultural tools necessary to be the architects of a future no longer captive to the plantation's ruling order. 

  1. "The Candy Shop: Columbia SC rallies to Honor Landmark Gay Bar" by Marianne Dhenin 

Columbia South Carolina's queer community is working hard to preserve one of their city's first gay bars, which holds historic significance for several reasons, including being a safe space for Black southerners in the immediate wake of desegregation. 

"The Candy Shop was the first place where I saw myself as a Black queer person fully being represented, and my culture as a Black person being centered… If it weren't for the Candy Shop, there wouldn't have been safe spaces for me to have experienced that [and] express my own particular cultural experience as a queer Black gay Southerner."

  1. "Florida's LGBTQ+ community defies queer repression with advocacy and preservation" by Cordell Jones

In recent years, Florida has garnered a reputation for being a national leader in passing repressive "anti-woke" legislation, much of which has disproportionately impacted the state's most vulnerable populations, namely queer and trans folks. Cordell Jones profiles the preservation and advocacy groups at the forefront of the efforts to combat this hostile political environment. 

"DeSantis' Florida may appear to be a hostile, desolate place that persecutes all marginalized folks, but there is still hope for some type of good awaiting us—just over that seemingly distant rainbow."

  1. "Who's Keeping our History Alive?: Black Preservation in South Florida" by Cordell Jones 

South Florida native Cordell Jones profiles "Black Miami Dade" and "Black Broward," two historic, preservation-focused projects started by local Black Cultural workers to educate native South Floridians and Black cultural aficionados about the rich local history not taught in school. 

"Today, against the constant attacks on even the most minute bits of South Florida history, two notable Black cultural workers, Nadege Green, creator of Black Miami Dade, and Emmanuel George, creator of Black Broward, help to preserve our vibrant local history."

  1. "Rejecting Cynical Narratives of The South" by Trey Washington 

In this poem, Trey Washington draws on the South's rich radical history of political struggle. He also connects it to the radical history of the Global South, to combat narratives about southern regions that condemn them to perpetual defeat by the violent predatory structures that threaten the land and people. 

"We must "draw connections between our struggles, rather than making comparisons [because it] lends itself to empathy, which is essential in our work. The goal is to pull people into active formation and build something."

  1. "Janelle Monáe, Tierra Whack, and Lute help promote voting at Carolina Daze" by Caitlin Leggett 

Ahead of the 2024 election, Southerners engaged in many creative strategies to combat voter repression and educate the electorate to maximize voter turnout. Caitlin Leggett provides coverage of the "Carolina Daze" music festival, where Black music stars joined political organizations in support of the cause. 

"Held in the heart of Raleigh at the Red Hat Amphitheater, Carolina Daze attracted hundreds of fans eager to see their favorite artists perform. Along with celebrating art, the music festival sought to raise awareness about the importance of voting and the fight for a fair democracy." 

  1. "Brown Eyes in a Blue-eyed World" by Kahlia Phillips 

For our banned books series, Kahlia Phillips reviews one of the greatest banned books of all time: Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. 

"The Bluest Eye traverses themes of tumult and trauma and ultimately reveals how whiteness and antiblackness are antagonistic to the development, self-esteem, and overall well-being of Black children and adults." 

Tea S. Troutman (they/them) is an abolitionist, digital propagandist, editor, and critical urban theorist born in Macon, Georgia, and currently calls Atlanta home. Tea is a Ph.D. student in the Geography, Environment, and Society department at the University of Minnesota, and also holds a B.S. in Economics and a Master's of Interdisciplinary Studies in Urban Studies, both from Georgia State University. Tea's work draws heavily on their experience as a long-time community organizer in Atlanta, Georgia, and their research interests broadly consider urbanism and critical urban theory, afropessmism, black geographies, and black cultural studies. Their dissertation project is a critique of Atlanta, "New South Urbanism," Anti-Blackness and the global circulation of the idea of the Black Mecca.