Category Archives: Civil War

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

BETTS: A MOTHER’S MEMOIR, 1923-1964, Part III: A Depression-Era Childhood

Posted on April 15, 2017 by

[Note:  This installment of Betts’ story is drawn from her memoir, “Slub of Slife.”  Parts I and II .] * * * * * We had no bathroom in the house [in Wilmington, Delaware], so we had an “outhouse” (enclosed “piddle palace”), … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, Civil War, family history, genealogy, Historical Reflection, History, memoir, Popular Culture, Research, Retirement, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Changing Views of the Removal of the Cherokees from Georgia (In Pursuit of Dead Georgians, 25)

Posted on May 1, 2016 by

[NOTE:  Over the past several years, while researching Rancorous Enmities and Blind Partialities: Factions and Parties in Georgia, 1807-1845 (2015), I read a lot of books on Cherokee removal and the “Trail of Tears,” key events during the years covered in that volume.  These … Continue reading →

Posted in "Cherokee Phoenix" (newspaper), American History, Books, Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Removal, Chief John Ross (Cherokees), Civil War, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, Research, Retirement, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized, WP Long Form, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In [Digital] Pursuit of Dead Georgians, 20: Some Online Sources

Posted on August 15, 2015 by

[NOTE:  With the new school year upon us, I thought I would offer a post in the “In Pursuit of Dead Georgians” series that is a bit different.  This one is for my fellow teachers  of American and Georgia history … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, Civil War, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History graduate school, Interdisciplinary Work, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Research, Retirement, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Evolution of a Blog: “Retired But Not Shy” at Four

Posted on September 15, 2014 by

[NOTE: If I had not edited my school’s “History Department Newsletter” over the last few years of my teaching career, I might never have become a blogger. Using a template provided by Microsoft, I planned each bi-monthly issue, parceled out … Continue reading →

Posted in "Lincoln"--the movie, "The Race Beat", American History, Blues Women, Books, Civil Rights Movement, Civil War, Current Events, Delta Blues, Dr. Martin Luther King, George R. Gilmer, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, Interdisciplinary Work, James Gunn, Martin Luther King, Popular Culture, prep school teaching with a PhD, Research, Retirement, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, The Blues, Vietnam War, Wilson Lumpkin | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The South on the Nation’s Psychiatric Couch, Again

Posted on July 12, 2014 by

A Review of Tracy Thompson, The New Mind of the South. New York and London: The Free Press, 2013. [NOTE:  I became a historian of the South not by birth, but because a southern grad school to which I’d applied … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of Jim Crow, American History, Books, Civil Rights Movement, Civil War, Current Events, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, History graduate school, Popular Culture, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Getting Right With Spielberg’s “Lincoln”

Posted on December 1, 2012 by

I have never liked the “docudrama,” whether on television or in films–“too much ‘drama,’ not enough ‘docu,’” the historian in me grumped. And yet, without question the modern master of the epic “docudrama”/message movie is Steven Spielberg (“Amistad,” “Saving Private … Continue reading →

Posted in "Lincoln"--the movie, Civil War, History, Retirement, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Reading the Civil War: “Patriotic Gore”–And More

Posted on June 16, 2012 by

In the Fall of 1969, I took a grad school course on the Civil War.  During a discussion of historiography, someone asked our professor his opinion of Shelby Foote’s history of the conflict, the first two volumes of which were then in … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, Civil War, History, Research, Retirement, Shelby Foote, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, Vietnam War | Tagged | 9 Comments

Book Notes: The “Great Migration”; Gore Vidal’s “Lincoln”

Posted on March 11, 2011 by

Nicholas Lemann, The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America(1991) Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration (2010)      A while ago, I posted a review of two works … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Rights Movement, Civil War, History, Retirement, Teaching | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments