A group of intellectuals will gather at Mercer University this week to discuss the history and culture of the American South.

The 25th annual gathering of the Southern Intellectual History Circle will take place on the Macon campus from Thursday to Saturday. The event kicks off with a lecture titled “A Retrospective on the Southern Intellectual History Circle” by Michael O’Brien, professor of American intellectual history at Cambridge University. The event is 5 p.m. Thursday at the Woodruff House and is open to the public.

The event also includes panel presentations and an exhibit of photographs taken by John Spivak, a journalist who wrote an expose of Georgia chain gangs in the 1930’s.