Its interviewers record the stories of ordinary and prominent Southerners alike to better understand history. The Southern Oral History Program is based in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Blair L.M. Kelley, a noted scholar of Black history and the African American experience, will be the next director of the Center for the Study of the American South and co-director of the Southern Futures Initiative.

The initiative will produce new works, collaborations and research on social justice and racial equity in the American South with musician Rhiannon Giddens. Southern Futures is a collaborative initiative of the College, University Libraries, Carolina Performing Arts and The Center for the Study of the American South.