Want to understand the U.S.? This historian says the South holds the key

Imani Perry speaks at the Brooklyn Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in New York, on Jan. 17.

Imani Perry says the South can be seen as an “origin point” for the way the nation operates. Her book South to America reflects on the region’s history and traces the steps of an enslaved ancestor.

(Image credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Brooklyn Academy of Music)

Imani Perry says the South can be seen as an “origin point” for the way the nation operates. Her book South to America reflects on the region’s history and traces the steps of an enslaved ancestor.