The “forever” of Flannery O’Connor — the lasting influence of a Southern Gothic writer

By Jamil Zainaldin Life, if we let it, can become a pressure cooker. We never seem satisfied by what we have or where we’ve gotten. There’s one more rung on the ladder to climb, one more recognition we think we deserve, one more promotion or accolade. Some of us — sometimes it seems like our […]

The AJC–Decatur Book Festival celebrates journalists, novelists, visionaries, and hip hop artists—reflecting a changing Atlanta

By Daren Wang As of this writing, the social-justice-loving, minority-favored candidate is trouncing the opposition in the polls with more than 88 percent of the vote, and we may at last be on the brink of voting our way into the 21st century.

Radical southern women: Eliza Frances Andrews and Katharine Du Pre Lumpkin

Radical southern women: Eliza Frances Andrews and Katharine Du Pre Lumpkin By Jamil Zainaldin Two spirited Georgia women of the post-Civil War era are remarkable for the clarity of their voices, their roots in the state, and their achievements. If in some ways they are alike, they are also profoundly different. Eliza Frances ("Fanny") Andrews [...]

Toni Morrison and Georgia

Toni Morrison and Georgia By Pearl McHaney In the spring of 2015, literary and major media outlets eagerly discussed novelist Toni Morrison and her new book, God Help the Child, her eleventh. Morrison is not a southerner, yet the South, and even Georgia, are all over her books. While we may not exactly claim the [...]

Sacred Harp Singer

Since 1844 Sacred Harp singers have defined, nurtured, and passed along their art and beliefs. Free of denominational ties, this form of shape-note singing represents a religious expression outside the limits of any church's doctrine and discipline. Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts

Singing Sacred Harp

Generations sing together at the Georgia Sacred Harp Convention in 1989. Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts

Crazy Quilt

Edna Minchew of Irwin County, Georgia, inherited this "crazy quilt" made by her mother, Drusilla McDermitt, in the 1920s. Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts

Hmong Musical Instrument

A member of the Moua family plays the "qeej" at the Hmong festival in Decatur, Georgia, in 1988. Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts

Weaving a Fishing Net

Hicks Walker, 86, of Sapelo Island, weaves a fishing net. The Walker family can trace its ancestry to West African slaves who labored on the Spalding plantation on Sapelo. Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts

Mexican Guitar Player

Mexican native Erasto Espinosa gave up a career as a dancer and musician to move to Georgia. He found work at a Gainesville sewing machine factory and played music only occasionally at weddings, at parties, and with friends. He told folklorist Martha Nelson, in a 1993 interview, that one day he’d like to own his own performing arts company. Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts

Net Maker

Using photography and field recordings, folklorist Annie Archbold In 1989 documented the work at Fulton and Donna Love’s Ogeechee Net Shop in Savannah. Here, an unidentified man works at the shop. Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts

Corn Shuck Broom

Like many traditional artists, Johnnie Ree Jackson of Box Springs, in Marion County, Georgia, relies on the natural world for materials. Using pine straw and corn shucks, she crafts vases, rugs, hats, mops, and brooms. Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts

Marching Band

Celebrating African American heritage, the West End Festival was held annually in the historic Atlanta neighborhood (West End) that is home to the historically black colleges and universities Spelman, Morehouse, and Clark Atlanta. A parade with marching bands was a notable feature. Courtesy of Georgia Council for the Arts

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