The institute was founded in 1970 by veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, including Julian Bond, leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and Howard Romaine and Sue Thrasher, veterans of the Southern Student Organizing Committee and aimed to continue the momentum of 1960s movements for equality and justice, expanding to labor rights, environmental protection and democratic reform.

Notable authors who have contributed to Southern Exposure include Julian Bond, Anne Braden, Denise Giardina, Jim Hightower, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Stetson Kennedy, Mab Segrest, Lee Smith, Studs Terkel and Alice Walker.

[2] After a two-year hiatus, Southern Exposure resumed publication in 2011 with an issue about the health crisis facing Gulf Coast communities in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Media coverage resulting from Facing South's investigative report appeared on ABC News, The Charlotte Observer, CNN, The Economist, Harper's Magazine, Politico, Salon, TPM Muckraker, The Washington Post, Wired, and dozens of other major outlets.

[6][7] Facing South has also published investigations into conservative megadonor Art Pope,[8] the BP Oil Spill,[9] and poultry industry workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.