The Brown vs. Board of Education ruling stands as one of the more important cases for the American civil rights movement. The Brown decision overturned separate but equal and set off a firestorm of resistance efforts throughout the South. Virginia set the precedent for this countermovement known as Massive Resistance through the development of arguments and policies to thwart integration. These arguments were based in racialized constructions of citizenship. Examining the discourse of segregationists furthers our understanding of how race is reproduced and controlled through public discourse.

Article for LiCS special issue The New Activism: Composition, Literacy Studies, and Politics.

Review of Scalawag: A White Southerners Journey through Segregation to Human Rights Activism by Edward H. Peeples. Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 2014.

Dr. Edward H. Peeples’ career as an activist and academic spans some forty years and reads like a how-to on combining scholarship and activism. Just as amazing as his career was the journey to it. Growing up in the south entrenched in Jim Crow, one might assume that Peeples would have continued down the path of the status quo; however, his memoir, Scalawag: A White Southerner’s Journey thorough Segregation to Human Rights Activism (University of Virginia Press, 2014) recounts his story of learning whiteness and then standing firm against them.

In this interview, Dr. Gwendolyn D. Pough talks about her history in the field. She reflects on the commitments and research interests that shape her past work and new book projects. Throughout her reflection, Pough provides insightful advice for those who may struggle to find a home for themselves in the academy.