CHange  the  South,

Change  the  Nation

A visual essay tracing the Lines from the past to the present, between poverty, Labor, and slavery in the U.S. South.

This project draws from data visualizations created by W.E.B. Du Bois and first presented at the 1900 Paris Exposition in The Exhibit of American Negroes.

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> 10k
5 - 10k
1 - 5k
100 - 1k
< 100
No data
IPUMS NHGIS, University of Minnesota
80% or More
60 – 80%
40 – 60%
20 – 40%
<20%
No data
IPUMS NHGIS, University of Minnesota

Number of Slaves

1860

Black Population

2020

The exhibition highlights the structural forces of corporate exploitation, racial injustice, and gender inequality that continue to shape the region—especially for women and workers of color in the service industry. Personal stories and portraits from contemporary service workers are incorporated to shed light on the humanity behind the data.

What Du Bois exposed more than a century ago still echoes today. This exhibition reminds us that these connections persist—seen and felt through the lives of workers.