By Isabelle Tilley
In the midst of national debates over history, race, and censorship, Doctor Wade Newhouse’s Bloody South class at William Peace University offers students an opportunity to critically engage with Southern literature and film in a way that highlights its violent past. The course, formerly titled Southern American Literature, underwent a name change when Dr. Newhouse decided to shift its focus, emphasizing the bloodshed and brutality that often shape the narratives of the American South.
“I thought the title Southern American Literature was confusing,” Newhouse said. “It sounded like it might be about South America. I also realized that by calling it The Bloody South, it would raise a flag about the direction that Southern Studies and literature tend to go, toward themes of violence, degradation, and memory.”
Course Goals and Approach
The class, designed as an upper-level literature course, encourages students to engage in critical thinking, close reading, and argumentation based on textual evidence. But beyond developing these skills, the course also pushes students to consider the unique ways in which literature and film articulate the South’s complex history.
“What does it mean to study literature? Why do we do it? We do it because literature is a way of making arguments, of thinking critically, and of exploring themes that other documents, laws, histories, textbooks, fail to capture,” Newhouse said.
This approach invites students to confront difficult questions: How does storytelling shape the way we remember history? What responsibilities do fiction and film have when dealing with historical trauma? And, most pressingly, how does the South reckon with its own past?
The South’s Violent History and Representation
The class does not shy away from the difficult parts of Southern history, from slavery to Jim Crow, from the Civil War to modern racial violence. A main focus is understanding how literature and film contribute to cultural memory. How stories, rather than just facts, shape the way societies remember the past.
“Memory is not just something that exists,” Newhouse said. “Memory is shaped. Individual memories become collective cultural memories, and those collective memories dictate how we think about history.”
The class explores how narratives of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow evolved over time. The “Lost Cause” mythology, for instance, continues to shape how many people interpret Southern history, reinforcing myths about honor, gentility, and victimhood, often at the expense of historical accuracy.
Education Reform and Teaching Accurate History
As Trump aims to defund the Department of Education and the latest executive order calls to eliminate “indoctrination in …discriminatory equity ideology”, national debates have sparked over what should and shouldn’t be taught in schools. Still, Newhouse has yet to see direct effects in his classroom. However, he acknowledges that students today bring different expectations and understandings of history compared to past generations.
“When I was in high school, we learned what happened, but we didn’t get into discussions of reparations, Southern memory, or the obligations people today might have toward historical injustices,” Newhouse said. “Now, there’s more emphasis on immersive learning and understanding history through a personal lens. That’s what some of these laws are trying to push back against.”
He also acknowledges the dangers of censorship, particularly when it comes to banning books that address racial violence and the darker aspects of Southern history.
“There’s a difference between a person choosing not to read a book and a system deciding no one should have access to it. That’s where we are right now—people trying to keep books out of schools not just for their own kids, but for everyone’s,” Newhouse said.
The Role of the Southern Gothic
The course leans heavily on the Southern Gothic tradition, particularly writers like William Faulkner, whose works expose the contradictions of Southern identity.
“The Gothic takes the things we don’t want to talk about—our biggest fears, our darkest secrets—and exaggerates them. It makes them monstrous, then forces us to look,” Newhouse said. “That’s why Southern Gothic literature is so effective. It doesn’t just tell us about the South; it shows us what the South tries to hide.”
Dr. Newhouse analyzing a scene from The Birth of a Nation (1915), discussing its historical significance and controversial legacy in shaping American cinema and racial narratives. Photo by Isabelle Tilley
Final Reflections
For Newhouse, teaching this course is about studying literature and film, but it’s also about understanding the ongoing impact of the past on the present. He hopes students leave with an appreciation for the complexity of literature, history, and memory, and with the tools to think critically about how stories shape society.
“If there are some people who think that this is a dark time for freedom to read, freedom to think about things, or freedom to debate difficult issues of region and race and that kind of stuff, one hopeful thing is that when you read these books, you realize that it’s always been difficult,” Newhouse said. “Writers have always struggled with how to represent history. That struggle is what makes literature so powerful. And that’s what this class is about.”
As debates over censorship, education, and history continue to unfold, The Bloody South remains a testament to the power of literature in confronting, complicating, and preserving the stories that define the region.