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. 3 - Fall 1990
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Magazine cover with photo of man in hard hat and right arm in cast, reading "Sunbelt Blues: where have all the good jobs gone?"

Sunbelt Blues

  • Dateline: The South

    Compiled by Jeff Moore

    2

  • Southern News Roundup

    4

  • Gavelgate

    A Supreme Court justice violated the Constitution by serving as an unpaid informer for LBJ and the FBI. By Alexander Charns.

    8

  • The South at Work

    A look at labor in the region: where we work and what we earn. An Institute Report.

    14

  • Factory Clearance

    Three years after the largest layoff in city history, Durham workers still struggle to make ends meet. By Barry Yeoman.

    20

  • Work-A-Day Blues

    Labor pools are spreading across the South, offering $25 a day for dangerous part-time work. By Adam Feuerstein.

    25

  • Borderline Jobs

    As factories close across the South, U.S. companies have opened hundreds of maquiladoras in Mexico. But who benefits? By Lou Dubose and Ellen Hosmer.

    30

  • Confessions of a Union Buster

    A management consultant reveals how he turned workers against unions. Interview by Nancy Peckenham.

    34

  • Two Steps Forward

    Fifteen years after they joined the union, textile workers build on their success in coastal South Carolina. By Nancy Peckenham.

    37

  • Nissan is Not the Norm

    Recent union victories show that Southern workers are joining ranks to win contracts and job security. By Ellen Spears.

    40

  • Southern Voices: Away O'ee!

    By Peter Gallagher

    45

  • Fiction: Holding Allie

    By Dennis Covington

    48

  • Taxing Our Patience

    Citizens in Southern states are fighting for a fair tax system that will share the wealth. By Tom Hilliard.

    53

  • Breaking the Hick'ry Stick

    One Georgia school is trying a nonviolent system of discipline. But do the kids behave? By Diana Hembree.

    60

  • The Last Word

    64
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