Arts & Culture
Southern Women
Meet ten fearless, funny, smart, driven, dynamic women in every decade of life
For too long, the Southern woman has been synonymous with the Southern belle—a soft gauzy stereotype that personified the “moonlight and magnolias” myth of the region. A romanticized version that gets nowhere close to describing the strong, richly diverse women who have thrived because of—and in some cases, despite of—the South.
Garden & Gun’s August/September issue showcases ten such awe-inspiring, risk-taking, big-dreaming, barrier-breaking, soul-baring, freewheeling Southern women, a preview to Garden & Gun’s forthcoming book on the same topic in 2019. Decade by decade—from six-year-old bookworm Daliyah Arana to ninety-five-year-old legendary chef Leah Chase—these ten women share a lifetime’s worth of triumph, grit, and grace.
Click below to read more about each
of these inspiring Southern women.
The Bookworm:
Daliyah Arana, age 6, from Gainesville, Georgia
The Comeback Kid:
Madeline Jordan, age 14, from Tallahassee, Florida
The Painter:
Dorothy Shain, age 28, from Greenville, South Carolina
The Bandleader:
Amanda Shires, age 36, from Lubbock, Texas
The Wisecracker:
Tig Notaro, age 47, from Pass Christian, Mississippi
The Bon Vivant:
Carla Hall, age 54, from Nashville, Tennessee
The Philanthropist:
Darla Moore, age 64, from Lake City, South Carolina
The Storyteller:
Lee Smith, age 73, from Grundy, Virginia
The Rancher:
Minnie Lou Bradley, age 86, from Hydro, Oklahoma
The Grande Dame:
Leah Chase, age 95, from Madisonville, Louisiana
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