The South makes social progress, like everywhere else, though it does its level best not to notice it while it’s going on. Only later, when it stands a serious risk of looking like a total asshole, does it claim to have always been on the side of decency and justice. (The same style of black-on-silver historical marker that identifies the home of my slavery-defending Grandpa Branch now celebrates the site of a 1960 sit-in at a Woolworth’s in Greensboro.)
