Southern Beauty: Race, Ritual and Memory in the Modern South

by Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd

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Code Switch, NPR · April 4, 2026

From the Confederacy to the White House: How Southern beauty traditions went MAGA

An exploration of how the beauty traditions of the white, antebellum South have shaped modern aesthetics, from beauty pageants and Bama Rush to the political sphere, examining the role of nostalgia in contemporary Southern identity.

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