Category Archives: Southern History

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

[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

State Rights, Nullification, and Indian Removal in Georgia, Part 2 (In Pursuit of Dead Georgians, 31)

[Note:  In Part 1 of this post, we looked at the development of the political philosophy of “state rights” in Georgia.  Originally a product of–what else?–the Yazoo Land Fraud, the concept of “state rights” subsequently was developed by Georgia Congressman–and, … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Removal, Chief John Ross (Cherokees), Creek Indians, Education, Elias Boudinot, George M. Troup, George R. Gilmer, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, History Teaching, John Clark, Nullification, Research, Southern History, Uncategorized, Wilson Lumpkin | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

State Rights, Nullification, and Indian Removal in Georgia, Part 1 (In Pursuit of Dead Georgians, 31)

[Note:  A friend of mine, Dr. Joseph Kitchens, retired Director of the Funk Heritage Center at Georgia’s Reinhardt University, has a knack for asking provocative questions.  A couple of years ago, for instance, we were discussing possible topics for a … Continue reading

Posted in ""state rights", American History, Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Removal, Chief John Ross (Cherokees), Chief Justice John Marshall, Creek Indians, Elias Boudinot, George M. Troup, George R. Gilmer, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, Nullification, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized, Wilson Lumpkin | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

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

[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

Georgia’s Yazoo Land Fraud and the American Constitution (In Pursuit of Dead Georgians, 30)

A Review of Charles F. Hobson, The Great Yazoo Land Sale: The Case of Fletcher v. Peck.  Lawrence, Kansas:  University Press of Kansas, 2016. [NOTE:  I’ve been studying the history of Georgia for more than half a century, trying to … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Books, Chief Justice John Marshall, Dr. Charles F. Hobson, George M. Troup, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, History graduate school, History Teaching, Research, Retirement, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized, WP Long Read, Yazoo Land Fraud | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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

[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)

[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 “Second Reconstruction”: The Modern Civil Rights Movement, 1940s-1968, Part 1 (Teaching Civil Rights, 12)

[NOTE:  One of the most significant developments in American history since the end of World War II has been the modern civil rights movement, which noted historian C. Vann Woodward termed “the Second Reconstruction.”  Between the 1940s and 1968, the … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Education, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History Teaching, Martin Luther King, Popular Culture, Research, Retirement, Southern History, Sun Belt, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“My people, yes!”

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 Age of Jim Crow (Teaching Civil Rights, 11)

[NOTE:  In previous posts (here and here), we’ve seen how southern whites, helped by the growing weariness of the rest of the nation with what they called the post-Civil War “Negro Problem,” regained control of their state governments by 1877 … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Civil Rights Movement, Education, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History Teaching, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Research, Southern History, Teaching, The "Great Migration", The Blues, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments