In this episode, we speak with Dr. Keri Leigh Merritt. She is a historian who focuses on issues of equality and poverty in America. Her book, "Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery is the Antebellum South" won the 2018 Bennett H. Wall Award from the Southern Historical Association. Along with Dr. Matthew Hild, she edited "Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, and Power" the 2019 Best Book Awards winner from the United Association for Labor Education. She hosts the podcast Merrittocracy, and she is currently working on a Civil War documentary and a project on Lillian Smith. We speak with her about history, class, race, and Lillian Smith.