Forum Presentation: Visiting Phi Beta Kappa Scholar Dr. Edward L. Ayers; Southern Journey: The Migrations of the American South 1790-2020

Forum Presentation: Visiting Phi Beta Kappa Scholar Dr. Edward L. Ayers (Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities and President Emeritus at the University of Richmond)

  Southern Journey: The Migrations of the American South, 1790- 2020

From its beginning to today, the American South has been the scene of constant movement. From the dispossession of the Native peoples and the vast expansion of slavery to the growth of suburbs and immigration from around the world today, the South has never stopped changing. That relentless movement has shaped the history of the region, the nation, and the world. It is the story of slavery’s expansion but also the story of the Great Migration of Black people, the story of many people leaving for over a century and more arriving in the South in the last several decades. Innovative maps that interpret massive data from a humanistic perspective reveal powerful patterns that cross centuries and help explain recent events in surprising ways.