Tag Archives: American History and Culture

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

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

Posted on November 25, 2018 by

[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!”

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 Age of Jim Crow (Teaching Civil Rights, 11)

Posted on October 27, 2018 by

[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 the post-Civil War “Negro Problem,” regained control of their state governments by 1877 and began, about … 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

The Road to Jim Crow, 1875-1900, Part 2 (Teaching Civil Rights, 10)

Posted on September 28, 2018 by

[Note:  In the previous post in this series, we looked at the short-term consequences of the acceptance, by white southerners, and many northerners, of the so-called “New South Creed,” which offered a prettified picture of the “Old South” and a … Continue reading →

Posted in American History, Historical Reflection, History, Research, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“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

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

The Story Behind “A Scrappy Fourth of July” (In Pursuit of Dead Georgians, 29)

Posted on July 1, 2018 by

[Note:  Last time, I regaled you with “Confessions of a Historical Pack Rat,” a light-hearted look at where I’ve gotten some of the material for posts at “Retired But Not Shy” (hereafter RBNS) over its first eight years.  As it … Continue reading →

Posted in 4th of July, American "republicanism", American History, American Revolution, Education, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History Teaching, Popular Culture, Research, Retirement, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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