The New York Times bestselling novelist Dolen Perkins-Valdez will read a short story set in the South from 5:30-7:00 PM, April 16, 2019, at the opening reception for an animated digital installation held at the Gorgas House Museum.

The installation, which is up throughout the month of June, receives inspiration from the research of students enrolled in “Antebellum America,” a Fall 2018 Department of History undergraduate course. Indeed, nuanced ideas are visually presented around three stories: Sarah Gayle, a journal-writing woman upends the southern belle stereotype. Horace King, an enslaved architect helps Robert Jemison Jr., a prominent slaveholder and politician build bridges. Nathaniel Kenyon, a Union officer passes unexpected time in a Tuscaloosa prison. Find out how these individuals and others unveil the degree to which space matters.  To speak of space is speak of maps, but also the way in which the most unlikely people make claims to power on the basis of many things including where they are.

This event is sponsored by the Frances J. Summersell Center for the South, the Departments of English, Anthropology, Gender and Race Studies, Communications and Information Sciences, and American Studies and UA Crossroads. Special thanks are also owed to Dr. John Beeler, Professor of History; Alex Fries, graduate student in UA’s Geography Department, Craig Remington, UA Cartographer, Kat Flandermeyer, graduate student in UA’s Film and Television Production program and Brandon Thompson, Director of Gorgas House Museum. Curated by Sharony Green, Assistant Professor of History, the exhibit pays homage to bicentennial celebrations for the City of Tuscaloosa and the State of Alabama.