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Posts by John Ratliff

The American Civil War Online and in the Public Sphere: A Panel Discussion to be held September 14

Three prominent Civil War Historians are coming to the UA campus to discuss their experiences with using digital projects in the classroom and in their research. They will also address the ways in which the Civil War has gained relevance in today’s current political climate. The panel discussion will be held in room 30, ten Hoor Hall, from 5 – 6:30 pm, on Thursday, September 14. Susannah J. Ural is co-director of the Dale Center for the Study of War […]

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Princeton University Prof Matthew Karp to Speak on “Slave Power: How Southern Slaveholders Mastered U.S. Foreign Policy” and Sign Books, Sept 20

Princeton University Assistant Professor Matthew Karp will present a talk entitled “Slave Power: How Southern Slaveholders Mastered U.S. Foreign Policy” on Wednesday, September 20, 2017, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm, in 30 ten Hoor Hall. Karp is the author of This Vast Southern Empire: Slaveholders at the Helm of American Foreign Policy, which was published by Harvard University Press and received the 2017 Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize for the best initial book in the field of U.S. foreign relations from the Society […]

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Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Silver Professor of History Emerita at New York University, to speak on “Double Agents in Early Jamestown: Pocahontas, Thomas Savage, Henry Spelman, and Robert Poole,” August 31.

Thousands of people found themselves living in new and strange circumstances as the Atlantic Ocean was transformed from a barrier to a pathway in the sixteenth century. Jamestown, England’s precarious early seventeenth-century colony, was filled with people whose “true” identity was unclear, including Pocahontas, and three English boys, Thomas Savage, Henry Spelman, and Robert Poole. The boys, like Iberian, French, and English boys before them, were left with Pocahontas’s people to learn their language and culture. Pocahontas, like other American […]

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Noted Civil War Historian William C. Harris’s Career Began in the Department of History at The University of Alabama

Alumnus William C. Harris, professor emeritus at North Carolina State University, began his fifty-year career as a Civil War historian here in Tuscaloosa, earning both his undergraduate and graduate history degrees from The University of Alabama Department of History. Harris, a native of Mount Meigs, Alabama, earned his BA from Alabama in 1954 and, after serving four years in the United States Air Force, returned to the Capstone for graduate school. Initially drawn to Latin American history, Harris switched to […]

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Professor Joshua Rothman’s Washington Post Piece Explores the Historical Background of Attacks on the Press.

The following article by Dr. Joshua Rothman appears in the August 1, 2017 edition of the Washington Post.  “The constant churn among President Trump’s communications staff — including the abrupt ouster of Anthony Scaramucci, who days ago promised to bring “an era of a new good feeling” to press relations in his role as communications director — has not obscured the underlying principle driving their media efforts: unremitting hostility toward a free and objective press. “Even newly appointed Chief of […]

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Dr. Glenn Brasher’s Review of PBS’s Mercy Street Featured in Smithsonian.

Dr. Glenn Brasher‘s review of PBS’s Mercy Street was recently featured in Smithsonian Magazine. “Days before President Trump proposed eliminating federal funds for public broadcasting, PBS cancelled “Mercy Street,” the ambitious period drama they debuted with high expectations in 2016. PBS stated that it could no longer afford the expensive production and high-caliber cast — especially after losing a major grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Sadly, this means we will forever have only 12 episodes of a show that […]

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Graduate Students Fall to Faculty in Annual Softball Match

On Saturday, April 15, the History Department came together to play the fourth annual Faculty-Graduate Softball Game.  The graduate students came ready for a fight, and for the first several innings it seemed that victory was within their grasp.  The faculty, however, came prepared to fight for the longue durée, and rallying in the fourth inning, powered through to a 16-7 win.  The students have requested new graduate recruitment efforts in the Dominican Republic and Cuba for the 2017-2018 academic […]

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Dr. Lawrence F. Kohl Retirement Lecture a Huge Success

  Dr. Lawrence F. Kohl is retiring after thirty years of teaching at The University of Alabama. He and the department celebrated his upcoming retirement with a lecture entitled, “On Life, History, and Teaching: Reflections on Retirement.” Kohl’s moving speech spanned from his serene childhood in Michigan, to his lifelong obsession with time, to the importance of teachers and students. Following the lecture was a reception in the Gorgas House for Dr. Kohl’s family, friends, and colleagues. View a video of […]

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Associate Professor Andrew Huebner Appointed Distinguished Lecturer

Dr. Andrew Huebner, an associate professor in The University of Alabama’s Department of History, has been appointed a distinguished lecturer of the Organization of American Historians. As a speaker for the Distinguished Lectureship Program, Huebner agreed to a three-year renewable term in which he will travel the country, speaking about all facets of U.S. history in museums, libraries, universities, community centers, churches, and other public/academic history forums. “I’m honored to be included in this program, which offers a great way to […]

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Department Professors Participate in Commemoration of WWI Centennial

On Friday, April 14, History Department Professors Harold Selesky, John Beeler, and Andrew Huebner spoke on topics related to the First World War.  The event, sponsored by the Department of History, the US Army Crimson Tide ROTC, Battalion, and the USAF Detachment 010, was held to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of American entry into the conflict. Dr. Beeler spoke about the war as a watershed moment in world history, and detailed its environmental, technological, and political legacies. Dr. Huebner examined […]

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Students Participate in The University of Alabama’s annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference

On March 30, three History Department students, Senior Hillary Jones, Senior Leif Midgorden, and Junior Charlotte Waters, participated in the University of Alabama’s annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity conference (URCA). The conference is provides an opportunity for undergraduates to present original research or creative activities. The most outstanding undergraduate researchers from all disciplines of the university present their work in both poster sessions and oral presentations. Each oral session offered students an opportunity to make a 20-minute presentation, followed […]

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2017 Honors Day Awards Review

Each April, the Department of History salutes the achievements of its students, recognizing their commitment to excellence and high academic and personal standards.  The faculty of the Department of History extends our heartfelt congratulations to the families and friends of the students honored today.  On this Honors Day, please know that we share your pride in the hard work demonstrated by your honoree and look forward to the many further contributions he or she will certainly make, both to our […]

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Meet 2017 John Fraser Ramsey Award Recipient Charlotte Watters

Named after long-time History faculty member John Fraser Ramsey, the Ramsey Award is the oldest, university-wide endowed award at The University of Alabama and the most prestigious of the University’s Premier Awards. Endowed by “Doc” Ramsey’s many admirers at the end of his forty-two-year career at Alabama, the Award honors ” the versatility of gifts and attainments, as well as the breadth of excellence in mind and character, that have traditionally been the goals of a liberal education.” In addition […]

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