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. 18 No. 1 - Spring 1990
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Magazine cover with reenactor holding Confederate battle flag, reading "The War Within"

The War Within

  • Dateline: The South

    Compiled by John James

    2

  • Southern News Roundup

    4

  • Headed for a Crash

    Guess who's paying for the insurance industry's $2.5 billion blowout. An SE special report. By Marty Leary.

    8

  • Poor Man's Fight

    Contrary to popular myth, many Southern whites took up arms against the Confederacy. By Michael W. Fitzgerald.

    14

  • An Uncivil War

    Secession launched a community rebellion that divided the plantations among poor men. By Wayne Durrill.

    18

  • A Thousand Aspirations

    Black Southerners who escaped to the Carolina coast forged new communities and fought for freedom. By David Cecelski.

    22

  • Picturing Freedom

    White images of blacks helped shaped public opinion in the era of Emancipation. By Karen C. C. Dalton

    26

  • "Who Wrote the History?"

    John Hope Franklin teaches the kind of Civil War history we never learned in school. Interview by Eric Bates.

    31

  • Look Away

    Why are Southerners still fighting over the Confederate flag? By Eric Bates.

    35

  • "A Big, Big Day"

    Wincehster still celebrates Confederate Memorial Day, but residents disagree about what it means. By Tim Thornton.

    38

  • A Concrete Symbol

    How wealthy whites in New Orleans rewrote history to suit their political needs. By Lawrence Powell.

    40

  • Fiction: The Palm Writer

    By Susan Hankla

    44

  • Southern Voices: Passing the Buck

    By Lawrence Goodwyn

    46

  • The Green Scorecard

    A state-by-state ranking of the South's environment. By Bob Hall.

    49

  • Good-Bye, Good Hope

    An entire Louisiana community vanished, thanks to environmental policies that put industry over people. By Zack Nauth.

    53

  • "The Greed in These Woods"

    The Army wants it. Developers want it. But Mississippi citizens say they can't have it. By Alan Huffman.

    57

  • Toxic Tremors

    Hazardous waste has turned South Carolina residents into movers and shakers. By Sandy Smith.

    60

  • The Last Word

    64
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