In the last episode of season three, Mark Smith is joined by one of the most talented historians of the American South and author of the one of the most important books ever written on the region: Peter H. Wood. Professor Wood is author of Black Majority: Race, Rice, and Rebellion in South Carolina, 1670-1740. A landmark work published fifty years ago, Black Majority has stood the test of time. Find out why on today's episode.

Today on the program we delve into the fascinating world of historic preservation to discover what preservation is, how it works, and what gets to be preserved (and what doesn't). Robin Waites, executive director of Historic Columbia, joins Mark Smith to talk about historic preservation and to reflect on her two-plus decades of leadership in the field.

Emily Allen interviews Dr. Simon Buck, a writer, historian, and musician. His first monograph, on old age and music in the US

The story of the South is also the story of Civil Rights.  On this episode of Take on the South, we explore how the Civil Rights Movement has shaped the South and how the story continues to

This special episode of Take on the South is a compilation of short segments from the students in the Spring 2024 course Popular Musics of the US South. Each student discusses the history of a particular pop music artist or genre with roots in the South. The students featured in this episode are Brooks Bishop, Josh Browning, Will Byars, Justin Gilbert, Jorden Jeffers, Annie Matson, Chris Nash, Cameran Peake, Logan Rodgers, and Wilson Stokes. 

Emily Allen interviews Dr. Sophia Enríquez, who is the Andrew W. Mellon assistant Professor Music, Latino/a Studies, and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University. They discuss her

Dr. Mark Smith of the Institute for Southern Studies is joined by the 2024 McNair Conversation in Southern Studies Honoree, Chief Justice Jean Toal. This discussion explores the Chief Justice’s upbringing in South Carolina, her experience in southern politics, and her signal achievements in the legal field.

What are the origins of higher education? Who were the key figures in its invention and subsequent entrenchment?  What role did the South play in its emergence?  And where is higher education today? To help answer these questions, Mark Smith is joined by Dr. Michael T. Benson, president and professor of history at Coastal Carolina University who discusses his recently published book, Daniel Coit Gilman and the Birth of the American Research University.

Twenty years ago, Harvard University's Henry Louis Gates, Jr. found, verified, and published what proved to be the first novel written by an African American woman in America: The Bondswoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts. However, little to nothing was known about Crafts' own life--until now. Mark Smith is joined by Furman University's Gregg Hecimovich, author of The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative, to discuss her remarkable life, the story of his work to piece together Crafts' biography, and the complexity of social interactions in the Old South.

In this episode Ebony Toussaint interviews John Jennings, a Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University