Best Breakout Essay

Photo: Daniel Meigs

It’s no secret that Caroline Randall Williams is one of Nashville’s most talented poets. But in June, the world found out just how powerful her voice is when she published an essay in The New York Times. “You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument” is an indictment of white Southern pride and an exorcism of its demons. Williams forced Americans to reckon with one of the most devastating — but infrequently discussed — horrors of slavery: plantation rape. In doing so, she positioned herself at the heart of the Confederate monument debate. “I defy any sentimental Southerner to defend our ancestors to me,” she writes. “I am quite literally made of the reasons to strip them of their laurels.” I can’t wait to see what she does next. ERICA CICCARONE

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