Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Missouri, a border state, in a town–Sedalia–that was the scene of a skirmish in the Civil War. My mother’s people were from Virginia, and she took the side ofRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: D.T. Robbins was born and raised in Hammond, Louisiana by two parents who barely tolerated one another and a village of Pentecostals. He also spent a few years in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. HeRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: For the last ten years I lived in Washington, D.C. or Northern Virginia as I worked toward my undergraduate and graduate degrees and taught at several colleges. Now, I live in Tallahassee,Read more

Southern Legitimacy Statement:  I live in Southern Illinois. Yes I know Illinois is a Yankee state. Hear me out. First off, the regional newspaper capitalizes the S in Southern Illinois because we are an areaRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: My parent’s left New England for a small town in Virginia’s New River Valley four years before I was born. I started kindergarten with the same 95 people I would graduate high schoolRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Anne Anthony lives in North Carolina though when she engages you in conversation it’s clear she was born above the Mason-Dixon Line. Still, if she’s reading you her stories, sometimes her voice slidesRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Kentucky, but spent most of my adult life In the south. I’ve come back to Kentucky now–I missed the hills. The Hunt The gray light filteringRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and lived in Rankin County, MS, until I lit out for the territories at twenty-one. I found myself in Waco, Texas, for four years, until IRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Maggie Hess is a Southerner from Bristol, TN. Hoodwinked Vignettes Up-street Once there lived three middle aged men, side by side on a street called Rose Street. Every day since retirement, their jobRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I spent some time in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I have made tasso from scratch, or at least been heavily involved in the process, even once arbitrating a disagreement as to whether orRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: The first twenty-one years of my life were spent cradled by the hills of eastern Kentucky. Now, after spending about two thirds of the intervening years somewhere in the south, I haveRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up in North Carolina–in the western red clay hills, the flat tobacco county in the middle of the state, and the sandy beaches of Nags Head. Dan Uncle Charles ran aRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am an adopted Southerner who lived in Mississippi for five years and have a son born in Mississippi. The attached story is all about the long-standing tradition of exporting all that isRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: As a child, I lived for the summers spent at my Grandfathers’ in South Carolina. Yeah, we were tourists in Myrtle Beach, but something salty just gets in your blood August afterRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Georgia, where I was baptized by a Brother Buddy about the same age as I fell in love with Billy Ray Cyrus. I still know theRead more

Southern Legitimacy Statement: On Mom’s side, I come from LeBoeufs, Thibodauxs, and Chauvins. Dad is a second-generation Tanner, after my great-grandfather, an adulterous Dixieland musician who abandoned his wife and children in Pennsylvania to start myRead more