"History doesn't change. Our interpretations do." The Civil Rights Movement, Southern identity, and finding courage in the truth

Episode OverviewAhmad Ward and I have been rolling strong since the early days of the pandemic, when a small cohort of museum leaders got together just trying to make sense of things. He is a historian, a museum leader, a Southerner, a father, and one of the most honest people I know. Our CrossroadsAhmad and I met in the history museum field and stayed close because of what the work demands—honesty, courage, and a willingness to sit with the uncomfortable stuff. We navigate Southern identity differently, and we’ve always been frank with each other about it. History is our common language. Liberation is the goal.The ConversationWe started with what it means to be a Southerner—the many Souths, the Lost Cause mythology baked into the culture, and the work of deconstruction that history demands. I was raised with a version of Southern identity modeled on things I’ve spent my adult life unlearning. As a Black man, Ahmad lives that same reckoning from a different position entirely, and hearing him name it plainly has been life-changing for me.The Civil Rights Movement anchors our discussion. We contend it may be the most significant domestic American political and social movement of the 20th century—because of the stakes, the participants, and what it cost them. Ahmad has spent his career inside the institutions that carry that history forward—from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, where he works today.Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth gets his due. Ahmad and I share him as a hero. The bravest man I ever met—and I mean it. When I brought him to the History Center in 2004 for the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision, the energy in that room was unlike anything I’ve experienced in a professional setting. We talked about what it means to do this work in this particular moment (February 2026) and what history offers when the present feels unstable. It doesn’t predict the future. But it does remind you that the struggle is much larger than any one of us, and that people with far less protection than we have put themselves in harm’s way anyway.We closed on Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park in Hilton Head and the philosophy Ahmad lives by these days, “We work in brave spaces, because safe is subjective.” I answered with “Be who the younger you needed.”Bob Beatty, Play All Night: Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505Resources* Bob Beatty, Play All Night: Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505* Birmingham Civil Rights Institute https://www.bcri.org* Andrew Manis, A Fire You Can’t Put Out: The Civil Rights Life of Birmingham’s Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth* Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park https://exploremitchelville.org This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe