Salvation South

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece explores the evolution of Southern fiction through conversations with acclaimed authors David Joy, Tayari Jones, Michael Farris Smith, Chris Offutt, and S.A. Cosby. From Appalachian hollows to Atlanta's streets, these authors craft thrilling narratives that challenge stereotypes and confront issues of race, class, and justice. 

A friend of Salvation South editor Chuck Reece had a hard year because of things that were out of his control. Chuck didn’t have any answers to the hand that life dealt his friend, but he did have a few ideas about certain uniquely Southern constants we can turn to when the rough patches come, as they inevitably do.

Next month, the bestselling novelist Percival Everett, who was born in Fort Gordon, Georgia, could take home one of the most prestigious prizes in publishing, the National Book Award, for his novel James. The National Book Awards are Salvation South editor—and avid reader—Chuck Reece’s favorite awards show. Here’s how he gets ready to watch.

The birthday of legendary New Orleans trumpeter and champion of traditional jazz, Wynton Marsalis, is this week. The prospect of the occasion reminded Salvation South editor Chuck Reece of a long-ago night, when a sound from a New York City basement and changed the way he heard the music of his home.

The American South is quite familiar with hurricanes. But none has ever wreaked the widespread destruction we’ve seen over the last two weeks from Florida up into the Appalachian Mountains. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece is here with a few stories he’s gathered in calls with friends and contributors.

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck tells the story of the Dothan High School graduating class of 1972, the first integrated class in the history of Dothan, Alabama.

Fifty years ago, Dothan High students did their best to navigate a social environment defined by Segregationist Governor George Wallace and profound racial tension. Fifty years later, two friends and alumni, a black student and a white student, came up with a plan to try to treat these long festering wounds, in the form of what they called a Unity Reunion. The result shows the power of what good faith, accountability and honest dialogue can do to heal even our deepest traumas. 

All throughout this sweltering Georgia summer, people across our state have bravely gone into their yards with dangerous implements—mowers, shears, weed whackers, and other weapons of lawn maintenance. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece did the same, until he learned this painful lesson.

In this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece details the United States's brutal program of forcibly assimilating Native American children through boarding schools in the late 19th and early 20th century. He learns the historical context of this act of warfare; the lasting trauma it created; and the Native-led efforts to heal its generational wounds. 

This weekend, DeKalb County officials will gather on the courthouse square in Decatur to dedicate a statute of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis. The statue replaces a monument installed in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece is here with some memories of his conversations with John Lewis.