Students will analyze contemporary representations of the antebellum past in literature and art, and will develop critical thinking skills by researching the historical context that writers and artists respond to in the current moment. The course is structured around a few key questions: how are contemporary communities shaped by the legacy of US slavery? How do writers and artists reimagine the traumatic past in order to comment on contemporary issues of social and environmental injustice? And finally, how have communities in Atlanta framed the legacy of slavery as historians, artists, and activists? Students will develop interpretive arguments in response to these questions, and they will articulate those arguments in projects such as video essays, podcasts, collage art, and infographics. They will leave the course with a richer understanding of how slavery has shaped our social and environmental landscape.