Category Archives: Age of Jim Crow

The “Lost Cause,” and Frederick Douglass’s Response: Teaching Civil Rights, 13

Posted on September 1, 2019 by

[Note: Here we are near the end of the second decade of the twentieth-first century, and we as a nation are still arguing about statues to Confederate leaders, generic marble remembrances of the “Confederate Soldier,” and other public efforts to … Continue reading →

Posted in ""state rights", Age of Jim Crow, American History, Books, Civil Rights Movement, Current Events, Education, Historical Reflection, History, Popular Culture, Research, Retirement, Southern History, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Polishing the “Marble Man”: Reflections on Douglas Southall Freeman’s “R.E. Lee” (4 vols., 1934-1935)

Posted on April 1, 2019 by

[NOTE:  I never intended to read Douglas Southall Freeman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning four-volume biography of Robert E. Lee.  After all, in grad school one of my professors dismissed Freeman’s effort out of hand, remarking that Freeman’s Lee would have been a … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Jim Crow, Books, Civil War, Current Events, Historical Reflection, History, History Teaching, Research, Retirement, Shelby Foote, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

A Post for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, 2019

Posted on January 17, 2019 by

[NOTE:  Last year at this time, I published a post for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday that focused on my contribution to an assembly commemorating King’s career and significance given at my school on January 16, 1987.  This post … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Jim Crow, American History, Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Education, Historical Reflection, History, History Teaching, Martin Luther King, memoir, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Retirement, Southern History | 4 Comments

The Second Reconstruction: The Modern Civil Rights Movement, 1940s-1968, Part 2 (Teaching Civil Rights, 12)

Posted on January 2, 2019 by

[NOTE:  This is the concluding post in my treatment of the Modern American Civil Rights Movement from World War II through the assassination of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968.  For part 1, go here.  A list … Continue reading →

Posted in "The Race Beat", Age of Jim Crow, American History, Civil Rights Movement, Cold War, Dr. Martin Luther King, Education, Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History Teaching, Martin Luther King, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Research, Retirement, Southern History, Sun Belt, Taylor Branch, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Road to Jim Crow, 1875-1900, Part 1 (Teaching Civil Rights, 10)

Posted on September 1, 2018 by

[NOTE: As we saw in the previous post in this series, a key element in the eventual acceptance of the defeated South back into the Union on a (more or less) equal basis with the rest of the nation was … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Jim Crow, American History, Civil Rights Movement, Education, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History Teaching, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Midterm Elections, 1866, 2018: Deja Vu (Sort of)

Posted on August 15, 2018 by

[NOTE: Followers of this blog know that I usually eschew contemporary politics here, but there have been a few exceptions (for example, here and here).  And, here’s another one. First, some background.  When I was in History graduate school (1968-1973), the … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Jim Crow, Books, Current Events, Education, Historical Reflection, History, History graduate school, History Teaching, memoir, Popular Culture, Research, Retirement, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The New South: Myth and Reality (Teaching Civil Rights, 9)

Posted on August 1, 2018 by

[NOTE:  This is the first of several posts that will reveal my approach to “teaching Civil Rights” to a class of high school juniors and seniors.  I did not do a lot of lecturing in this course, but what I … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Jim Crow, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History Teaching, Research, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Confessions of a Historical Pack Rat: “Retired But Not Shy” at Eight

Posted on June 15, 2018 by

[ Note:  One question any new blogger should—but probably doesn’t—ask is, “Will I be able to find sufficient material to keep this blog alive?”  I know that I didn’t think about this question in May 2010, when I contemplated establishing … Continue reading →

Posted in "Education Courses", "In The Temple of Wolves", 4th of July, Age of Jim Crow, American "republicanism", American History, American Revolution, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Books, Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Removal, Creek Indians, Denying the Holocaust, Dr. Martin Luther King, Education, Elias Boudinot, family history, George R. Gilmer, Georgia History, Historical Problem, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History graduate school, History Teaching, Interdisciplinary Work, Martin Luther King, memoir, Muddy Waters, Popular Culture, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Research, Retirement, Rick Lamplugh, Scopes Trial, Skip James, Son House, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, The Blues, Theology, Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia", Uncategorized, Urban Blues, Vietnam War, Wilson Lumpkin, Wolves, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Howlin’ Wolf,1910-1976: His Life, His Times, His Blues (Blues Stories, 28)

Posted on April 1, 2018 by

A Review of James Segrest and Mark Hoffman, Moanin’  at Midnight:  The Life and Times of Howlin’ Wolf. New York:  Pantheon Books, 2004. Howlin’ Wolf was born Chester Arthur Burnett, June 10, 1910, near West Point, Mississippi.  (His grandfather nicknamed … Continue reading →

Posted in "Charley Patton", Age of Jim Crow, American History, Chicago Blues, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Popular Culture, Robert Johnson, Skip James, Son House, Southern History, The "Great Migration", The Blues, Uncategorized, Urban Blues, WP Long Form | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

They don’t call me “Dr. Excitement” for nothin’, you know! (Be True to Your School, 5)

Posted on November 15, 2017 by

[Note:  In a previous post in this series, I discussed how certain personal eccentricities helped me construct a “classroom persona,” one “Dr.,” beard, polyester suit, and awful pun at a time.  In this entry, I’d like to offer a few … Continue reading →

Posted in "The Race Beat", Age of Jim Crow, American History, Civil Rights Movement, Civil War, Cold War, Dr. Martin Luther King, Elias Boudinot, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, Interdisciplinary Work, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, The Blues, Uncategorized, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments