Hidden South: A Class Assignment Inspired by a Desire to Share People's Stories

The Empathy Project is an assignment I’ve given in 3 countries. It’s inspired by Brent Walker's book of stories and portraits of people from all walks of life in the South.

I met Brent Walker in New Orleans. He was road-tripping in an RV across the Southeast United States promoting his book, The Hidden South—Come Home. I was living in a camper, spending a couple weeks in Louisiana.

From The Hidden South—Come Home

The Hidden South is a collection of pictures accompanied by intimate conversations and personal stories. A high schooler running dirt roads in Mississippi, training to get into college on a track scholarship. A victim of domestic violence in Georgia who wants to be a poet. A mother in Tennessee mourning the death of her daughter. A recovering heroin addict in North Carolina, whose parents told him he was “just going through a phase” when he came out to them.

From The Hidden South—Come Home

Brent himself is a recovering addict for more than two decades. He knows hardship and struggle, and he sees hope. In his book, he writes, “We come into this world with a clean slate and are thrown into the waters of life. I designed this book around the questions, attitudes, and values inherent to that journey--feelings and frustrations we all share as humans--to allow readers to experience that journey with the people in the book. I wanted to show our obvious, and not so obvious connections--connections we wouldn’t otherwise make.”

My brief conversation with him in New Orleans was powerful. He’s quiet, humble, and ready to listen. He wants to give a voice to people. “Long before I had the idea for this project, before I even picked up a camera for the first time, I had an understanding of the power of sharing secrets and stories,” he writes.

My wife bought a copy of his book for me, and Brent signed it with a personal note. Since that encounter, Brent’s project has inspired a project in my English classes, in three schools, in three different countries, with an array of social classes and backgrounds.

I call it The Empathy Project.

Students are to engage in a conversation with an individual outside their usual social circles. First, they select a person—someone they wouldn't typically interact with—and conduct a respectful conversation. The objective is an organic conversation, not an interview. Next, they document their insights, reflect on their experiences, and share their experience and learnings with the class.

The project aims to deepen the students’ understanding of others' perspectives and to cultivate empathy in their interactions. The variety of conversations that I’ve seen over the years has been exciting.

A student who reached out to another student in a different grade level, and one who reached out to a friend’s younger sibling. A student who normally wouldn’t talk to her taxi driver, but struck up a personal conversation about his life and family back home in Italy. Another student who sat with a homeless man in a park and talked to him about the oddities he collects in his shopping cart. Many students who got to know teachers of different grades or friends of parents. One student who sat in the waiting room of his mother’s doctor’s office and started talking to a patient.

Brent Walker’s book has inspired my teaching, and helped me to keep empathy at the front of the reasons why we read fiction.

He now runs a shop in Louisiana, The Hidden South - Art, Oddities, And Antiques. His website says, “He travels through the South in search of unique objects with captivating stories to bring back to the shop, located just a stone’s throw from the French Quarter in New Orleans. Our shop is a unique fusion of retail space and an ongoing art project.”