Historian John Hayes examines the ways folk religion in the early 20th century allowed the South's poor—both white and black—to listen, borrow, and learn from each other about what it meant to live as Christians in a world of severe struggle. This talk explores how the Farm Security Administration photographs offer an uncommon document of the everyday lives of impoverished Southerners and, in particular, their grassroots religious creativity. The photographs provide a glimpse of a deeper regional dynamic: a folk Christianity of the poor very different from familiar Bible Belt religious forms. John Hayes is associate professor of history at Augusta University. This program is presented with the Wake Forest University Department for the Study of Religions.
This event is free for Wake Forest students, faculty, and staff, and no registration is required.