Best Southern Albums 2016 — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

Bitter Southerner's Best Records 2016 graphic

Music, like food, gives us common ground. Political forces drove many of us apart this year. They brought to the surface issues that were long overdue for discussion. They left many Southern families torn by unspoken tensions, even over the Thanksgiving table. But when the needle drops onto a record, folks don’t care much about the color of the musician if the song shakes our asses or touches our hearts.

More here.

Plantations Were Slave Labor Camps

enslaved cotton workers

 

“Plantation” is a genteel euphemism for slave labor camp. Let’s change the history books to say so. Michael Todd Landis:

Why should we continue to employ wording that is biased, false, or laden with myth? Compromise, plantation, slave-owners, Union v. Confederacy, etc.: these phrases and many others obscure rather than illuminate; they serve the interests of traditionalists or white supremacists; they do not accurately reflect our current understanding of phenomena, thus they should be abandoned and replaced.

Via PNH’s Particles at Making Light.