Dirty Decade: Rap Music and the US South, 1997–2007
Introduction Introduced in a 1995 song by the Atlanta-based group Goodie Mob, the idea of the "Dirty South" spread quickly throughout the rap music subculture and industry, and by the...
John Cohen in Eastern Kentucky: Documentary Expression and the Image of Roscoe Halcomb During the Folk Revival
Preface On a muggy Sunday afternoon in June of 1959, John Cohen wandered the winding mountain roads of eastern Kentucky searching for old-time musicians. Neon, Bulan, Vicco, Viper, Daisy, Defiance...
Race, Capitalism, and the Rise and Fall of Black Beach Communities
Review Building on a rich literature that explores the spatial dimensions of US race relations and capital formation, Andrew Kahrl's The Land Was Ours traces the histories of African American...
From Arkansas with Love: Evangelical Crisis Management and Southern (White) Gospel Music
The Best of the Martins, 2011. Gaither Gospel Series DVD cover. © Slanted Records and The Martins. For the past forty years or so, "southern gospel" has named a professional...
"Puerto Ricans Live Free": Race, Language, and Orlando's Contested Soundscape
Introduction Buenaventura Lakes, Florida. Data from the 2010 Census, Hispanic population according to county. Map courtesy of Southern Spaces. One of the largest Puerto Rican enclaves in Greater Orlando, Buenaventura...
Memphis: Cotton Fields, Cargo Planes, and Biotechnology
Introduction Geographic location is one characteristic of place fundamental to understanding the economic structure of Memphis and the city's role as a major distribution node in the global economy. Memphis...
Geographies of Hope and Despair: Atlanta's African American, Latino, and White Day Laborers
Introduction I left Guatemala May 28. I had problems crossing into Mexico from Guatemala. Mexican officials threw me back eight times but I kept trying. They tried to get me...
A City Divided
Introduction In spite of increasing animosity between workers and elites, blacks and whites, through the turn of the century, Atlanta's residential landscape remained curiously heterogeneous in terms of race and...
A Plague of Bulldozers: Celestine Sibley and Suburban Sprawl
Introduction Roswell development, 2008 In her 1995 murder mystery, A Plague of Kinfolks, journalist and fiction writer Celestine Sibley (1914–1999) made her feelings clear about Atlanta's sprawl into the area...
A Well-Tied Knot: Atlanta's Mobility Crisis and the 2012 T-SPLOST Debate
Introduction Percent of "Yes" vote in T-SPLOST referendum by precinct, August 2012, Atlanta Regional Commission. "We took on the governor, the lieutenant governor, the mayor, big business and slick political...