Category Archives: Current Events

Jim Crow and his Minions–the New South, the Lost Cause, and Confederate Monuments: a Review

[Note:  2020 has rapidly become a “Year of Discontent” in the United States.  The coronavirus–and our government’s seeming inability, or unwillingness, to bring it under control–has produced much of the pervasive anger and frustration currently testing the strengths of the … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on August 1, 2020 by | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

4th of July Oratory in Antebellum Georgia–In Pursuit of Dead Georgians, 32

Posted on July 1, 2020 by

 4th of July Oration, Hawkinsville, Georgia, 1838—Dr. William Germany (excerpts) [Milledgeville Federal Union, August 14, 1838] [Note: Over the past few years, I have tried to show how Georgians celebrated the Fourth of July before the Civil War.  (See, for … Continue reading →

Posted in 4th of July, American History, American Revolution, Colonial Georgia, Current Events, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, History Teaching, Interdisciplinary Work, Research, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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

A Post for the Fourth of July in Georgia, 2019

Posted on July 2, 2019 by

Those of you who follow this blog know that I have a fondness for “annual” posts.  One of my favorite holidays is Independence Day, because it gives me a chance to assess how the nation’s seminal holiday has been celebrated … Continue reading →

Posted in 4th of July, American History, Current Events, History, Popular Culture, Retirement, Southern (Georgia) History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 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

“My people, yes!”

Posted on November 15, 2018 by

A Review of: Nancy Isenberg, White Trash:  The 400-Year Old History of Class in America. New York:  Penguin Books, 2016. [NOTE:  Like J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy (2016), Nancy Isenberg’s White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, had … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Civil Rights Movement, Current Events, Historical Reflection, History, Interdisciplinary Work, Popular Culture, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“The Gathering”: Leadership Retreat Devotional, 1999 (Be True to Your School, 6)

Posted on September 15, 2018 by

[NOTE:  During the 1999-2000 school year, I served as Interim Chair of the History Department at Atlanta’s Finest Prep School (AFPS).  This assignment meant, among other things, that I was once again “in the administrative loop,” whether I wished to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Current Events, Education, Historical Reflection, History Teaching, Interdisciplinary Work, memoir, Popular Culture, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Retirement, Sun Belt, Teaching, Theology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

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

My Brother, the Writer: Act 2

Posted on May 15, 2018 by

A Review of Rick Lamplugh, Deep into Yellowstone: A Year’s Immersion in Grandeur & Controversy (2017). Available at amazon.com in both paperback and e-book formats.  Several years ago, I reviewed my younger brother Rick’s book, In the Temple of Wolves … Continue reading →

Posted in "In The Temple of Wolves", Books, Current Events, family history, Historical Reflection, memoir, Research, Retirement, Rick Lamplugh, Uncategorized, Wolves, Yellowstone National Park | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

History, Family, and Memory in the Jim Crow South:  Comparisons and Contrasts (Teaching Civil Rights, 8)

Posted on March 1, 2018 by

[NOTE:  Both during my teaching career and since I retired from the classroom, I have been fascinated by the history of the Civil Rights Movement. I decided early on that, if my students were to understand the accomplishments of the … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, Books, Civil Rights Movement, Current Events, family history, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, History Teaching, memoir, Prince Edward County Virginia, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment