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Author: John Ratliff

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Posts by John Ratliff

Dr. Lesley Gordon & Students Visit Vicksburg Battlefield

Dr. Lesley Gordon took her Civil War class (HY 315) and UA History grad students on a tour of Vicksburg National Military Park this past March. They were joined by Dr. Susannah Ural and some of her students from the University of Southern Mississippi as well as UA and Southern Mississippi ROTC members. Park rangers and graduate students, such as UA History PhD students Brian Martin and Trace Brusco, co-led the tour. Undergraduate students also presented about the battle at […]

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In Memoriam: Dr. Howard Jones, 1939-2022

Dr. Howard Jones, who was a Distinguished Research Professor at the University and a member of the Department of History for thirty-five years, passed away early in March after an illness. His accomplishments and his legacy are vast. Dr. Jones was a specialist in American diplomatic history and the history of American foreign policy. He was the author of at least eight books and the editor of nearly half a dozen more, on subjects ranging from the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty […]

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Dr. Lawrence Cappello Interviewed About Mobile’s Proposed Surveillance System

Assistant Professor Lawrence Cappello, a specialist in U.S. Legal & Constitutional History and director of the department’s Legal History Concentration, was interviewed recently by al.com about the city of Mobile’s latest initiative to combat crime: the ShotSpotter system, which uses audio detection equipment to pinpoint the origin(s) of gunshots within the city. The city’s decision to contract with Alabama Power to add surveillance cameras to the system has sparked concerns about how the system might affect the public’s right to […]

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Summersell Center Now Accepting Short-Term Research Fellowship Applications

To support the study of southern history and promote the use of the manuscript collections housed at The University of Alabama, the Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South will offer a total of eight research fellowships in the amount of $500 each for the 2022-2023 academic year. Eligible researchers will have projects that entail work to be conducted in southern history or southern studies at the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, the A.S. Williams III Americana […]

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Senior Tejas Dinesh Wins Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award

Senior Tejas Dinesh is a recipient of the 2022 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, one of UA’s Premier Awards. The Ohio native is a double major in History and Environmental Engineering. The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award recognizes two graduating seniors and one non-student award winner for their character excellence and service to humanity. As a part of the University Fellows Experience, Dinesh has served the West Alabama region through “Project Catalyst,” which provides creative writing seminars for area high school students. […]

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Empty Columns are a Place to Dream: Monuments as Community at the Intersection of Art and History

A lecture by Ric Kadour, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts Curatorial Fellow Monuments are ubiquitous in the landscape. Common and omnipresent, they blend into the background and go unnoticed until someone points them out. In recent years, monuments have become flashpoints of cultural controversy across the globe. Debates about monuments in the U.S. have focused on whether Confederate statues should stay or be removed. While this is an important debate, this talk invites a different conversation: What role do […]

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Drs. Erik Peterson and Margaret Peacock to Share Findings from “A Deeper Sickness,” Feb. 24

The Office of Politics, Communication and Media at The University of Alabama (OPCaM) will host a for “Politics Broadly: Disease and Disinformation,” with Drs. Margaret Peacock and Erik Peterson on Thursday, February 24, 2022, from 4 – 5:30 PM CST in 118 Lucy Hall. The event is free, but registration is required. There will be a livestream available for those unable to attend in person (register to receive the link). The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the midst of a […]

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Dr. Megan Kate Nelson to Host Workshop

Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, writer and historian, will give a virtual graduate workshop on February 17, 2022 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in 251 ten Hoor Hall. Dr. Nelson is the author of The Three-Cornered War (Scribner, 2020) and the forthcoming Saving Yellowstone (Scribner, 2022). Her workshop will focus on the best structure for a dissertation or trade history book, how to pitch and write an op-ed, and how to create a writing practice. Dr. Nelson will address questions from graduate students […]

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Dr. Blake Ball to Discuss Peanuts, Politics, & 20th-Century US History

On Thursday, February 10, The University of Alabama Department of History will host Dr. Blake Scott Ball for a discussion on Peanuts, politics, and US history in the 20th century. Ball is a 2017 PhD graduate from the Department of History. He is an assistant professor of history and chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Huntingdon College, in Montgomery, Alabama. Ball is the author of Charlie Brown’s America: The Popular Politics of Peanuts (Oxford UP, 2021). […]

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Alumnus Elected to College Football Hall of Fame

Sylvester Croom, Jr., a 1975 graduate from The University of Alabama’s Department of History, was selected as a member of the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame induction class. Croom played center for the Crimson Tide from 1972 to 1974, and completed his college degree before turning twenty-one. He was a captain on the 1974 squad, won the 1974 Jacobs Blocking Trophy, and was named a Kodak All-American. As a player, Croom was a part of three SEC championship teams […]

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Dr. Kari Frederickson to Discuss Deep South Dynasty, Autograph Copies January 22

Tuscaloosa’s Ernest & Hadley Booksellers, will host a book signing and discussion with Dr. Kari Frederickson this coming Saturday, January 22, 2022, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. The event will be held at the Ernest & Hadley’s store, located at 1928 7th Street, in downtown Tuscaloosa. Frederickson will discuss her newest book, Deep South Dynasty: The Bankheads of Alabama, which chronicles the story of one of Alabama’s most powerful and influential political families. Deep South Dynasty traces the careers […]

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Crimson Historical Review Continues to Grow

This past year, staff at the Crimson Historical Review transformed sixty-plus submissions into their most enterprising set of issues to date. In the spring, exceptional authors from across the US combined with CHR review board and copy editors to produce, then perfect, articles examining topics as broad as alcohol consumption in Nazi-occupied areas to masculinity in the Black Panther Party. They also marked important firsts for the CHR, centering novel inquiry on The University of Alabama’s relationship with race — […]

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Peer Mentors Continue to Serve their Fellow students

The History Peer Mentoring Program at The University of Alabama was first introduced in 2011. During the past decade the Department has recruited hundreds of peer mentors, who in turn have helped thousands of students maximize their performance in the Department’s courses by tutoring their fellow students, helping to develop their study skills; improve their test-taking strategies; and promote active reading. Though the program was initially intended for students enrolled in introductory survey courses, it is now offered for all […]

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The Summersell Center for the Study of the South Continues to Explore Hidden histories

The Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South has continued the research of hidden Southern history with its two new classes in the fall semester. “Race and Injustice in the Modern South” explores crime, punishment, and race in the American South from enslavement through the rise of mass incarceration in the 21st century, with special attention paid to understanding the impact of these themes on a local level. In “Queer History South,” students explore the lives and […]

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