Culture

April 25, 2019 - This Sexual Assault Awareness Month, #MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke launched a tour of historically black colleges to refocus the conversation around sexual assault to be more inclusive of Black women. 

October 26, 2018 - In South Carolina, social worker Marlanda Dekine uses poetry to open up dialogue and break down barriers that divide her community.

March 9, 2018 - Jimmy Collier was an organizer-musician with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the first Poor People's Campaign. The songs he composed and recorded 50 years ago continue to inspire activists today.

July 19, 2017 - The historic link between workers in the South Carolina city and the organizer training school in Tennessee was revitalized when a group of Raise Up for $15 activists from Charleston traveled there recently with others from around the South to strategize about what's next for the movement.

October 4, 2016 - This Oct. 5 marks 100 years since the birth of Stetson Kennedy, the Florida writer and human rights activist who died in 2011 at the age of 94. The nonprofit foundation he launched while still alive is marking the occasion with a series of events that start this week with a biographical drama of Kennedy's life — and what a life it was.

September 9, 2016 - With Nate Parker's film about Nat Turner's 1831 slave revolt set to be released soon, retired Duke University history professor Peter H. Wood wonders if another much-needed teaching moment is on the way.

December 18, 2015 - For 45 years, the Institute for Southern Studies has kept our eyes on the prize of a more just, democratic and sustainable future in the South.

June 12, 2015 - Born into a renowned Kentucky ballad-singing family, Ritchie went on to earn fame for preserving old songs and composing original tunes protesting the destructiveness of coal mining. She died earlier this month at age 92.

March 16, 2015 - Founded by civil rights movement leaders including Rep. John Lewis, the Institute for Southern Studies has worked for 45 years to build a better South. Help us continue this vital work for the region by becoming an Institute Sustainer today.

January 30, 2015 - Since launching in 2013, the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina has engaged thousands of people across the state in protests against regressive policies. A photo exhibit that opens Feb. 1 will showcase images from the movement captured by photographer and participant Phil Fonville.