“It’s so exciting to have a volume of stories from artists who live at the heart of southern culture. These are people with a deep understanding of how that culture lives, and what its history is. Every one of these writers is a legendary storyteller, so pull up a chair and listen.”

—Linda Frye Burnham, cofounder of Highways Performance Space, cofounding editor of High Performance, and cofounder of the Community Arts Network

“Truth to power is a phase we hear often, but the stories of doing it – what it looks like, the ways it shapes ethics, aesthetics, and Democracy is told in this enriching collection of voices. The voices of ROOTS co-travelers who enliven beauty, strengthen justice and feed the imagination embedded in the poetics and praxis of ‘rooting’ for our lives together, document an artistic and social movement of belonging to model.”

—Roberto Bedoya, writer and cultural strategist

“This history brought to mind the small forest I see outside my window each morning. At first glance the trees seem separate, each reaching for light on its own. But they are nothing of the kind. Beneath the surface they are intertwined, sustaining one another through an unseen network of shared life. This is what these stories reveal about ROOTS. The organization, for sure, but much more—a living system of relationships, built over decades, where trust, risk, and persistence allow fragile connections to take hold, grow deep, and endure—an improbable, lasting sanctuary for generations of creative change agents.”

—Bill Cleveland, founder of the Center for the Study of Art and Community