Southern Exposure was an award-winning print journal published by the Institute for Southern Studies, publisher of Facing South, from 1973 until 2011. Southern Exposure earned a national reputation for its writing on a broad range of political and cultural issues in the South, with a special emphasis on investigative journalism and oral history.

On the 50th anniversary of Southern Exposure’s birth, Facing South and the Institute will be publishing a full digital archive of the journal over the course of the year. The initial installment of the archives available in March 2023 includes issues from the magazine’s launch in 1973 through 1981.

Vol. 17 No. 3 - Fall 1989
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Magazine cover with man in cement room looking out window, while another man is huddled in the corner.

Inside Looking Out

  • Dateline: The South

    Compiled by David Ramm

    2

  • Southern News Roundup

    4

  • A Black Governor in the South?

    It could happen this year in Virginia. By Dwayne Yancey.

    8

  • Over Committed

    A Southern Exposure survey reveals that blacks are nearly three times more likely than whites to be committed against their will to Southern mental hospitals. By David Ramm.

    14

  • Keys to the Asylum

    A landmark court case in Alabama opened the hospital doors in 1972—yet mental patients are still struggling for better treatment 17 years later. By Grace Nordhoff.

    18

  • The New Dumping Ground

    Despite evidences of horrific abuses, Virginia officials are still placing the mentally ill in adult homes. By Mike Hudson.

    24

  • The Death of Sammy Owens

    A deputy sheriff killed him—no one disputes that. But now his community wants to know why the police have no mental health training. By Eric Bates.

    32

  • "I Finally Got Out"

    Anita Courtney talks about overcoming shock treatments—and about finding a healing alternative to mental hospitals. Interview by Grace Nordhoff and Eric Bates.

    36

  • "Like Lightning Striking"

    John Baggett used to be ashamed of his son's schizophrenia. Now he leads a movement for families of the mentally ill in North Carolina. Interview by Grace Nordhoff.

    39

  • Drop In

    They call themselves "consumers," and they are at the forefront of a national civil rights movement for the mentally ill. By Robin Epstein.

    42

  • Fiction: Bird Wars

    By Robert Morgan

    46

  • Southern Voices: CajunLand

    By Barry Jean Ancelet

    52

  • Book Reviews

    54

  • The Last Word

    64
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