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...
Scales Intimate and Sprawling: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Geography of Marriage in Virginia
Introduction Peggy Winn had every reason to believe freedom meant stability for her family, stability in a new place. Under slavery, she had lived in the southern section of Albemarle...
Creolization as Cultural Continuity and Creativity in Postdiluvian New Orleans and Beyond
Introduction Doing fieldwork, public programs, and scholarly projects on expressive culture in Creole and other cultural settings in urban New Orleans and nearby French Louisiana over the last three decades...
Hoboken Style: Meaning and Change in Okefenokee Sacred Harp Singing
Introduction Recording of "Coronation" #63 sung by Hoboken Sacred Harp Singers, led by Silas Lee, Florida Folk Festival. Courtesy of Florida Folklife Collection, State Library of Florida, May 4, 1958. Music...
Revisiting Flaherty's Louisiana Story
Introduction James V. Catano Lush wilderness in a remote bayou and the exploratory genius of oil drilling technology; traditional ways of living and the intrusions of modern life; natural wealth...
Trying the Dark: Mammoth Cave and the Racial Imagination, 1839–1869
Mandeville Thum, Mouth of the Cave, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, 1876–1877. Introduction Geologically, Mammoth Cave is a network of underground caverns in central Kentucky believed to be the world's largest cave...
Joshua McCarter Simpson's "To the White People of America" (1854)
O'er this wide extended country, Hear the solemn echoes roll, For a long and weary century, Those cries have gone from pole to pole; See the white man sway his...
The Supreme Court Is Overturning Brown v. Board of Education
Blog post In a case decided on the grounds of religious freedom, the US Supreme Court took another big step on June 30 in supporting religious discrimination in publicly financed...
"The Room that We're Able to Take Up": Forrest Lawson's Queer Aesthetic
“If I could attach our blood vessels in order to anchor you to the earth to this present time I would... It makes me weep to feel the history of...
"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...