Southern Exposure is an award-winning print journal and magazine published by the Institute for Southern Studies, publisher of Facing South, from 1973 until 2011. Southern Exposure earned a national reputation and won several awards, including a National Magazine Award and two George Polk Awards, for its writing and investigative reporting on a broad range of political, economic, and cultural issues in the South.

Vol. 17 No. 4 - Winter 1989
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Magazine cover with child facing the camera, reading "Facing the '90s"

Facing the '90s

  • Dateline: The South

    2

  • Southern News Roundup

    4

  • Small Town, Big Screen

    In the midst of the Depression, a Southern filmmaker created a democratic style of hometown movies. By Tom Whiteside.

    8

  • Bottom of the Class

    Timber taxes are kept low in Alabama—and students are the ones who suffer. By Emily Bentley, Allan Freedman, and Janet Jimmerson.

    14

  • Pay Dirt

    Coal companies, campaign contributions, and officials who look the other way. By Paul J. Nyden.

    20

  • Our Coast

    Awash in a sea of change, a valuable heritage is slowly seeping away. By Frank Tursi and Jon Healey.

    25

  • Care and Punishment

    Medicine behind bars can turn life in prison into an early death sentence. By Olive Talley.

    30

  • The Face of Poverty

    For most of the poor in Spartanburg County, public aid provides plenty of nothing. By Diana Sugg, Linda Conley, and Allison Bruce.

    36

  • Fiction: Beaner's Story

    By Stephen E. Smith

    42

  • Drawing the Line

    How election districts are drawn in the South this year will shape state and national politics for the rest of the decade. By Eric Bates.

    51

  • Power in the Delta

    Arkansas voters have put plantation-era politics on trial. The charge: rigging elections to keep blacks out of office. By Faith Gay.

    56

  • The Color of Ballots

    When Chattanooga citizens fought for fair elections, the political and social history of the city unfolded in federal court. By Wade Rawlins and Dick Kopper.

    60

  • The Last Word

    By Bob Hall

    64
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