Sean Hannity begins his nationally syndicated radio talk show by welcoming listeners to “the revolution.” This is a clever marketing ploy, but nothing Hannity discusses is truly revolutionary nor that inspiring. Many thoughtful listeners are left searching for a voice that articulates their worldview, particularly in the South.
Some of these people—not just Southerners—have ended up at the Abbeville Institute. We have started to change the dialog in regard to the Southern tradition and the Jeffersonian vision of America. Until recently, that vision was regarded as the American tradition. The South held on to it longer and more forcefully, but it is the only counterweight to the modern onslaught of political correctness and destructive centralization. Our mission is to “explore what is true and valuable in the Southern tradition.” With your support, the Institute has grown and expanded our programs and outreach in the last year.
Nearly 270,000 people from all corners of the globe visited our website in 2015, a more than 300 percent increase over 2014. Clyde Wilson’s “Lies My Teacher Told Me: A True History of the War for Southern Independence,” was the top article for the year, and was read nearly 100,000 times. Dr. Wilson had three of the top ten articles for the year, making the Clyde Wilson Library an essential component of the website. Not one website can claim as many fine Southern writers as the Abbeville Institute, and our stable of great authors continues to grow.
The current attack on Southern symbols led to a successful and well attended October conference in Stone Mountain, Georgia. All of those lectures available for free on YouTube and will be available in audio format for download. They add to the over one hundred free lectures already on our website from past conferences and events.
Our July Summer School on the Southern Tradition featured talks on Southern music, literature, manners, history, religion, and economics and was well attended.
We have added over 100 primary documents on the Jeffersonian political tradition to the James McClellan Library and will soon be publishing another book through the Abbeville Institute Press.
We launched a podcast hosted by Brion McClanahan, “The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute,” that discusses the articles on our website and important topics of the day as they pertain to the Southern Jeffersonian tradition.
If you like what you have seen, heard, and read over the past year, please consider making a tax deductible donation to the Abbeville Institute. We exist on our generosity. And if you have written something you think would contribute to our mission, send it along for consideration. The new wave of political correctness is not just an assault on the South; it is an assault on the very fabric of American history and Western Civilization.
2015 was a great year for the Institute, but 2016 should be better, beginning with our February Conference in Charleston, South Carolina. If you have not registered for that event, you can here. Please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our YouTube channel, join our email list (just submit your email address at the top of this page), and send our articles and content to your friends and family. We look forward to your comradery and support in 2016.
