Oxford American

In our annual Southern Journeys section, four long-form stories take readers across the region in search of bygone utopias, neglected histories, and obscure visionaries—alongside short essays on music and the road from beloved OA contributors Kiese Laymon, Ronni Lundy, Mary Miller, and more.

The Summer 2019 issue also includes new fiction by True Detective screenwriter Graham Gordy, an essay by Stephanie Powell Watts, and poetry by Rajiv Mohabir and Sandra Beasley.

Plus: Anne Gisleson and John T. Edge on their favorite watering holes.

The Oxford American

CONTRIBUTORS

Color Fields

Beyond the Levee

The Fleeting Kingdom of Heaven

Only Human

from Ghosts of India Road in Opelika, Ross Cemetery

The Unfound Door

Social Engineering

RUSKIN USA • Forgotten utopias in the country of no castles

WHERE THE LEE HIGHWAY GOES

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT COAL CREEK • The neglected history of Lake City Colored Elementary School

FOGBOUND

THE SOUND OF ONE HEAD EXPLODING

THE FERAL CHILD • After a death in the family, a father and son become unwitting art dealers

MARS ROVER

HOME COURT • A native son of Wilmington, North Carolina, resurrects the “black country club” that helped launch the careers of Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, as well as his own

BEDTIME SONGS

Who Carried You

Chosen History • THOMAS JEFFERSON, PHARRELL, AND MORE NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA

Nostalgia

POINTE D’ÉGLISE, LOUISIANA, 1959

KEEPING THE DEVIL CLOSE • Mike Frolich’s artistic legacy in the Saturn Bar

Propriety

SWEET THINGS • Zora Neale Hurston’s lessons in writing a love story

Here It Is

A HOMETOWN KIND OF THING • Creating the No Tears Suite