FALL SEMESTER 2015 The Record The Newsletter of the University of Georgia® History Department

about the job,” he advised. “Obsess about those twenty-first-century workplace competencies. This is your challenge.” (For more on John and his wife Kay, please see this issue’s donor spotlight on the back The History Department has been unusually page.) busy receiving recognition this year. Susan Mattern, John’s lecture was part of a larger effort by the who writes on ancient Europe, was awarded a Department to communicate the value of a Distinguished Research Professorship, one of the humanities degree to UGA undergraduates. Our highest honors accorded by the University. Steve new director of undergraduate studies, Jamie Soper, a newly minted assistant professor in Kreiner, has launched a “History at Work” lecture European history, won the 2015 Franklin College series, featuring alumni who speak about how they Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. And have transformed historical thinking into successful Jennifer Palmer, who specializes in eighteenth- post-graduate careers. She has also set up a related century France, won the Richard B. Russell Award fact-filled History at Work website, which you can for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Not to be find through the Department’s homepage. outdone, one of our talented graduate students, Though the history major remains one of the ten Laura Davis, was recognized for her work in the most popular at UGA, we are working to make it classroom with an Excellence in Teaching Award. even better. To help strengthen the intellectual With so many good teachers, it is not surprising community among our majors, for example, the that our students continue to receive accolades. Department launched a new undergraduate study Most recently, one of our undergraduate majors was lounge on the first floor of LeConte in October named a Boren Scholar, a highly competitive national (pictured above). Special thanks to Greg and honor. The program supports long-term linguistic Amanda Gregory and Dean Alan Dorsey for and cultural immersion abroad for students who wish generously contributing to the renovations. to undertake a career in the national security arena. I close with the news that Spalding Despite the Department’s many commendations, Distinguished Professor James C. Cobb, one of our we are facing a decline in undergraduate enrollments, most renowned faculty members, a UGA graduate a trend that is affecting all humanities programs himself (BA, MA, and PhD!), mentor to scores of across the country. With rising tuitions and growing doctoral students, past-president of the Southern economic uncertainty, students are understandably Historical Association, and winner of multiple concerned about finding jobs immediately after awards, is retiring at the end of this calendar year. graduation. Unfortunately, there are no want-ads Jim writes briefly about his experiences in LeConte that specify “looking for history major.” And yet we in this issue of the newsletter. In the interior, you know that the study of history teaches precisely the will also find profiles of some of our amazing skills that employers want: The ability to write and students. communicate clearly, to approach problems critically Wishing you a happy holiday and great start to and creatively, and to thrive in a world that is the new year. increasingly multicultural and international. This was a point that John R. Parker, Jr., a Claudio Saunt history alumnus and Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Coca-Cola Enterprises, made in a recent lecture to our undergraduates. “Don’t obsess FALL SEMESTER 2015

Describe the work you do with ARC-GIS mapping. the a digital humanities Andrew Fialka GIS basically allows you to build an animated map instead lab at the main library, we of a static map, which is a screenshot of one space at one have people on staff who Earned his undergraduate degree at point in time. With GIS, I basically have a map for every are there to answer the University of Missouri in 2010, single day of the Civil Wa r, and like a flipbook, I can flip questions, we have earned his Master’s Degree at West Virginia University in 2013. He is through that with a time slider. What that allowed me to professors who are putting in the time to do working under Dr. Stephen Berry and do is to see that in this guerrilla conflict, early in the war, expects to earn his PhD in Spring 2018. all these little search-and-destroy parties from the Union these things go to these little different towns and sure enough, later in themselves and not the war, the guerrilla violence pops up in the towns that just pushing it down were affected by these search-and-destroy parties. So on graduate there is basically a connection between where the Union is students. So what occupying these spaces and where guerrillas are attacking. UGA provides is not And you can only see that using an animated map. So, just the vision but having maps of the guerrilla conflict actually does give us the resources for more insight into the guerrilla conflict that we didn’t have what it takes to before. We know that these maps are beneficial, so the achieve that vision. next goal is to get a map for the whole occupied South A lot of that where the guerrillas operated. That is the vision for the involves financial dissertation. three things that I want and I want them on resources, but a lot a national level, and I think we can make it work. And we of it is also the have the resources here to get it done. faculty’s willingness to embrace this Please tell me a little bit about your work on the methodology. Dr. CSI: Dixie project that you’ve been working on Berry doesn’t have with Dr. Berry. to do this; the way the academy is structured now, he’s not CSI: Dixie is basically a mapping project that looks at going to get credit for this work, so he’s got the courage morgues and the mortality census from 1850-1890. Dr. guts to do go out on a limb and do this. The willingness Berry is interested to see how people died, how the that the UGA faculty have shown to embrace the digital government and communities kept track of how people humanities is another thing that is going to help all of the died, and then I am in charge of mapping those things. other graduate students in the future who want to pursue So, we’ve read through coroners’ reports, and we have this this kind of research. mortality census that the federal government kept. And Do you feel that digital humanities can bring higher down to a state level and sometimes regional level––and education and teaching pedagogy into the 21st very rarely to a county level––we have statistics on how century? people died: how whites died, how slaves died, how male slaves died versus female slaves. So we have all these Absolutely. The goal of digital humanities should be to different categories and then we can overlay demographic help my students to build something that is real and data on top of it. Dr. Berry is trying to make connections tangible, not just to learn information that they have to between social inequality and how people are dying. What repeat on a test. I want my undergrads to build digital he’s trying to say to a contemporary audience is, “okay, if projects, and in that process of building the project and you want to limit access to birth control, education, and doing actual research, I think that the knowledge will other things like that, that’s fine, but let’s go back to an stick better. I think that this methodology teaches them a American culture where that existed and see what the practical skill that companies want in today’s morgue looked like.” The challenge with this project is the technologically-advanced world. They want innovators, massive amount of data. I basically built a digital they want collaborators. These companies want to build infrastructure for all of the data that we needed in a digital projects that live and breathe and grow on the web. So format and we’ve had a History Department colleague, history as a discipline needs to reflect that. Kate Dahlstrand, crunching numbers for months. It takes a lot of manpower, a lot of labor, and a lot of quality control to build these maps. How has UGA helped to advance your research? A lot of universities want to get involved in digital methods, but UGA is so unique because it has actually invested money into it. The Willson Center has funded FALL SEMESTER 2015

What is your those sources to understand what day-to-day life was like Kiersten Rom area of study? on Sapelo. Is a second year master’s student. She My master’s What are your plans after you get done with your graduated from UGA in 2013 with a thesis looks at a master’s thesis? major in history and a minor in art plantation on I’m not sure yet. I would eventually like to pursue a PhD history. Her senior thesis, which Sapelo Island, focused on Athens’ historic Cobbham and would really like to teach at the college level. I’m not neighborhood, received the J. Brown Georgia. really sure what size university yet or if I’ll keep going with Connelly Award. She began her Thomas the low country slavery topic. Right now I’m just masters in August of 2014 and plans to Spalding concentrating on finishing my master’s thesis, that’s the graduate in Spring, 2016. Her advising purchased a first hurdle. So we’ll see. To be decided. professor is Dr. John Inscoe. portion of the island in 1802 What role in particular has the UGA history and began to department had in advancing your studies and your grow sugar, long staple academic career? cotton, rice, and indigo. It’s been really nice surrounding myself with people who Over the course of his are really strong in the nineteenth century field. When I lifetime, Spalding owned applied for my master’s degree I applied to a variety of over 350 slaves and different places and had not yet decided I wanted to stay became one of the in Georgia. Getting a second degree from UGA was the wealthiest planters in the right choice for me, because I love Athens and I love this state. My thesis will department. I had classes with both Dr. Berry and Dr. cover the history of the Inscoe in undergrad but didn’t have a really professional white and black relationship with them aside from just getting to know inhabitants of the island them in class. It was nice to establish more of a and their transition into professional working relationship with them as a graduate life on a plantation after student. The professors here are very supportive of the the eradication of slavery, graduate community. The graduate student community is so from about 1802 to also great. While in undergrad, I had a few interactions 1871. with some of the grad students. Kylie Horney was my What kinds of historical interventions are you academic advisor and Sam McGuire was my TA for Dr. making? Berry’s Civil Wa r class. Both of them gave me great advice while applying to programs about what to look for in a The world Thomas Spalding set in motion when he program and especially what to look for in a community of purchased the island in 1802 was very different from the your peers. Our graduate community fosters a supportive world he left in his death in 1851. Spalding imported over and friendly environment. 350 slaves to the island to labor on the thousands of acres he had under cultivation. He created an insular estate on How have you managed to keep your life balanced Sapelo that was almost entirely self-sufficient. Spalding throughout graduate school? used drivers to maintain control over each slave labor For me, I guess being social and taking some time out of force and housing community. Each community, referred my week to spend time with people that I like and care to as hammocks on Sapelo, provided the labor for their about and getting to know people in this department own subsistence agriculture and Spalding’s export outside of LeConte Hall been really nice. Like, I’ve had industries. During the Civil Wa r, the Spalding family lost good relationships with people that I’ve gotten to know control of both their land and their labor. And in 1871, the just outside of talking about class or papers or projects. black residents of Sapelo purchase land on the island to Participating in the History Graduate Student Association continue their own collective farming operations. A large has been really helpful in terms of, for me, making the group of descendants of Spalding slaves remain on the move from an undergrad to a graduate. Getting to know island through the 20th century and some still live there other people in the program has helped me with the today. A lot has been written on the people who live there typical grad school anxieties, from insecurities about today because they are one of the few permanent Geechee yourself and your research to what you are doing here. communities, but little has been written about the People in this department have been really helpful about antebellum period on the island. E. Merton Coulter wrote giving good advice and giving me the confidence to be like a biography on Spalding in 1940, but focuses on Spalding “Ok, if they’ve done this then I can do this, too!” as a politician, an agriculturalist, and a Georgia historian. Spalding wrote a lot about agriculture and plantation management during his lifetime, and I would like to use FALL SEMESTER 2015

You are a history major and an Arabic minor. I've been following this thread for almost four years now, Explain what brought you to history and the and I’ve spent three months in Morocco and seven connection between both of your areas of interest. months in Jordan. My study in Jordan was funded by a Coming to college I knew I wanted to study Arabic and Boren Scholarship, which is a federal scholarship to learn about the Middle East. I started out as a political support language study. science major, but ended up in history because I found Are you going to pursue an advanced degree before that the professors in the history department offered you do that or are you going to try to get into a better answers to the questions that I had, and taught me government job right of the bat? a lot about how to ask the right questions about how I’m considering pursuing an advanced degree in things happen in the world. Within the department, I’ve development or Middle Eastern studies, but I’d like to focused on Middle Eastern history and the history of spend a year or two working beforehand. I’m applying to capitalism. several different opportunities in DC and in the Middle Have any specific either professors or teaching East for the coming year. assistants really helped to peak your interests? Do you feel that the UGA history department has In all honesty, I’ve loved every class I’ve taken in the helped you advance your studies? history department, so it’s hard to single out any one The history department has been absolutely central to my professor. I had an excellent honors seminar on the personal development. Beyond the topical knowledge I’ve American Dream with Dr. Hamilton, and then conducted gained, I’ve also learned how to do solid research. I think a research project under his supervision into how Coca- real research skills are becoming increasingly rare, and the Cola navigated the Arab boycott in Israel in the 1970s and ever-increasing amount of information available to the cut a deal with the Egyptian government (with U.S. average person has not necessarily made things easier. support) to get back into the market.. Dr Mihm’s courses With this abundance of information, the ability to filter on the history of capitalism have changed the way I think between the signal and the noise is more important than about American history, and I’m currently in his graduate ever, as is knowing how to evaluate the reliability and seminar on the same topic. Dr. Fonder taught Middle biases of your sources. I know it's a cliché, but my study East history here for a year, and I learned a lot from him of history has absolutely supported the liberal arts ideal of about the historical method and how to think about and learning how to think critically. Learning how to develop a connect current events to their historical context. Finally, nuanced view about our own history that acknowledges Dr. Soper’s European history classes are life-changing, and complexity and takes a critical view of the narratives I’m sure all of his we’ve been taught our whole lives is always going to be other students important. would agree. What specifically are you writing about on your What inspired senior thesis. you to learn Arabic? I am working with Dr. Kevin Jones, the Middle East history professor. I'm investigating the rise of I originally sectarianism in Iraqi society during the 1990s.To do that became interested I'm going to visit Stanford University to examine an in Arabic in high archive of Ba'th party records that were recovered school when the following the U.S. invasion and are now at the Hoover Iraq war was the Institution at Stanford. major political issue in the U.S. Do you have any outside interest other than your and it seemed studies? like no one really For two years I was a writer and editor for the Andrew Jarnagin had any idea Georgia Political Review, which is a student-run Is a fourth year history major and what they were publication. I’ve also been involved with Casa de Amistad Arabic minor from Atlanta, Georgia. He is expecting to talking about. So for two years. It's an organization that offers social graduate in Spring, 2016. After I decided to services to Latino immigrants in Athens. They offer free graduation he hopes to work in the study Arabic to English classes, and twice a week I help out with a class. State Department or a find out for development initiative like USAID. myself what was really happening. FALL SEMESTER 2015

My Phases and Stages in LeConte Hall, by James C. Cobb into my old environs as if nothing had Manthorne, whose sudden, tragic changed since the 1970s, I had at least death left a hole in my heart that will anticipated that my previous never heal. If I can survive retirement relationships with the place would long enough to undertake revising his afford an early boost to my comfort manuscript, it will be a labor of pure level. I can see now, however, that, in love, however punctuated with pangs my mind, my history in LeConte Hall of sorrow. actually imposed more of an I would be remiss if I did not obligation to prove I belonged there also admit that I cherish the many than I had sensed at any stop in my hours with a bunch of students other The signal development during my rambling career. After all, I hadn’t than my own advisees, who not only first tour of duty in LeConte Hall exactly left a generation earlier as the endured a semester’s worth of (1965-1969) came when, as a wide- odds-on choice for “Most Likely to seriously tough love in the classroom, eyed undergrad, I became so Succeed,” even at a time when simply but came knocking every now and desperately smitten with the wit and getting a tenure-track job registered then for a supplemental jolt, knowing panache of one Professor Billups as an enormous achievement. full well they would depart bearing a Phinizy Spalding as to imagine that Although, to everyone’s prescription for more reading or earning a Ph.D. in history might make astonishment, none greater than my research or closer attention to their me even fractionally as cool as he was. own, I had done alright for myself writing. There were also many fruitful (Although this obviously didn’t since 1975, I could not shake the encounters (as well as a few that happen, it affords me no small feeling that other, smarter, and more seemed more akin to those of the measure of satisfaction to know that, dedicated scholars in my grad school “Third Kind”) with faculty colleagues, however improbably, I became the cohort were much more deserving of a number of whom have come to first holder of a professorship the opportunity that had come my LeConte only in recent years. Along established in his honor.) After two way. Although I am no closer to with the foregone interactions with years of teaching high-school history shaking that feeling than I was grad students, I will surely miss the and another as a big-time draft-lottery eighteen years ago, I do recognize regular company of such gifted, loser consigned to spend 1971 on that having been given a chance hardworking, sensible and thoroughly active military duty, I made my way denied others who might have decent young scholars, although back to LeConte Hall to pursue my merited it more made it even more doubtless the smartest thing for me is magnificent mirage. The next three incumbent on me to make the very to get out before they leave me years were ones of hard work, most of it I could. entirely in their dust. I am also enormous learning and even more Whether I have done that is forever indebted to a wonderful prodigious beer consumption--Busch best left to others to decide, but I do assortment of staff members who Bavarian, or “Barbarian,” as we knew know that whatever feeling of patiently saved me countless times it, was the grad student brew of no accomplishment I can take away from from my own practical and procedural other choice back then—in the my third, longest, and last stint in ineptitude and generously gave me company of a world-class coterie of LeConte Hall would be sorely their friendship and empathy when I fellow students and some truly diminished without the many needed to talk things out on personal dedicated and approachable members satisfying and fulfilling interactions I matters and feelings sometimes not of the faculty. Awarded my degree in have enjoyed with a cadre of graduate easily addressed with my faculty 1975, doubtless as the least students who most certainly could colleagues. complicated means of getting rid of have excelled in any program in the Clearly, there will be lots of me, I departed with great trepidation country. Naturally, I am chest- emotions in play when I can no longer to plunge myself into a job market bumping proud of all of my postpone cleaning out the godawful that was, if anything, even more longsuffering dozen (to date) of Ph.D. mess that is my office and figuring out abysmal than today’s. advisees, seven of whom already have what the heck to do with all those Twenty-two years later, my their dissertations in print or in press books, let alone the wacky clippings return to LeConte would raise new and several others of whom currently on my door. It isn’t every day, after all, challenges and concerns. Although I have theirs under review. None of my that you say goodbye to a place that had not blown off Thomas Wolfe’s charges here or elsewhere ever buoyed has given you the best years of your caution about going home again my spirits or challenged my thinking life. naively expecting to settle right back more consistently than Jason FALL SEMESTER 2015 Recent Faculty Publications The Social Georgia Harlem’s Life of Women: Rattlers and Hagiography Their Lives the Great in the and Times, Wa r Merovingian Volume 2 by John H. Kingdom by Kathleen Morrow, Jr., by Jamie Ann Clark, et and Jefrey T. Kreiner al. Sammons In The Social Life The essays in the During World of Hagiography, Dr. Kreiner explores second volume of Georgia Women vividly Wa r I, the black men of the 369th U.S. the debates that the governing classes portray a wide array of Georgia women Regiment fought to convince America of Gaul had with each other about the who played an important role in the to live up to its democratic promise. It right way to steer their kingdom. The state’s history, from little-known is this aspect of the storied regiment's kingdom of Gaul (basically a bigger Progressive Era activists to famous history—its place within the larger version of what's now France) has a present-day figures such as Pulitzer movement of African Americans for reputation for occupying a historical Prize–winning author Alice Walker and full citizenship in the face of virulent nadir between the glorious civilizations former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. racism—that Harlem's Rattlers and the of Rome and of the Carolingians. Great Wa r brings to the fore. Essays on Lillian Smith, Frances Pauley, The kings of these three hundred years Coretta Scott King, and others With sweeping vision, historical — the Merovingians — used to be demonstrate that Georgia women precision, and unparalleled research, called "do-nothings," and their courts played a key role in twentieth-century this book will stand as the definitive seemed full of battle-axe-wielding struggles over civil rights, gender study of the 369th. Though discussed barbarians. But Merovingian political equality, and the proper size and reach in numerous histories and featured in culture was actually much more savvy of government. Georgia women’s popular culture, the 369th has become than that. Rulers and the elites who contributions have been wide ranging more a matter of mythology than competed for influence in their courts in the arena of arts and culture and grounded, factually accurate history—a debated legal and fiscal policies. They include the works of renowned blues situation that authors Jeffrey T. asked what responsibilities they had singer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and such Sammons and John H. Morrow, Jr. set toward each other, toward their nationally prominent literary figures as out to right. Combining the "fighting subjects, and toward the tenants on Margaret Mitchell, Carson McCullers, focus" of military history with the their lands. They drew upon cutting- and Flannery O’Connor, as well as insights of social commentary, Harlem's edge theories in literature, psychology, Walker. Rattlers and the Great Wa r reveals the and sociology in order to make their centrality of military service and war to arguments stronger. And in the process Readers will also have the opportunity the quest for equality as it details the they restructured their modes of to discover women who were vital to origins, evolution, combat exploits, and governing — and even their criteria for Georgia’s history yet remain relatively postwar struggles of the 369th. what entitled people to govern in the obscure today, such as Atlanta educator first place. Christianity played a big and activist Lugenia Burns Hope, This book reveals as never before the part in that transformation because it World Wa r II aviator Hazel Raines, details of the Harlem Rattlers' was an important resource that elites entrepreneur and carpet manufacturer experience, the poignant history of used to re-imagine how their kingdom Catherine Evans Whitener, and rural some of its heroes, its place in the could and should work. But of course activist and author Vara A. Majette. story of both World Wa r I and the Christianity, too, changed in the Collectively, the life stories portrayed African American campaign for process, as the Merovingians and their in this volume deepen our equality—and its full importance in our subjects reappraised what being understanding of the multifaceted understanding of American history. Christian required in a society that was history of not only Georgia women but continuously under construction. also the state itself. I am a proud supporter of . . . The History Department, University of Georgia®

The department has been challenged by a donor to raise $10,000 this year for graduate support. If we raise GIVE ONLINE. It’s quick and easy. Go to: $10,000, the donor will contribute an additional $5,000. The Graduate Support Fund provides assistance to https://gail.uga.edu/historygsf students to attend conferences, travel to conduct research, access software or other equipment needed for their work, and a variety of other academic endeavors. Employer Matching Gifts double or triple your support! Find out if your company matches by going to: Yes, I would like to support graduate education with a gift of: http://www.externalafairs.uga.edu/development/ $1,000, $500, $100, Other $______georgiafund/giving/matching.php

Make checks payable to: THE UGA FOUNDATION Mail your gift to: Department of History, UGA Gift Accounting ______394 S. Milledge Ave. Name Athens, GA 30602-5582. ______Address For questions about giving, please contact: ______Franklin College Office of Development: 706-542-4658. City/State/Zip ASHISTFY16 ______Phone/Email Donor Spotlight: Kay Parker Kay Parker continues to make her mark on the University of Georgia and the Athens community. Devoted to her husband, John (AB ’73, History), and their four children, Laura, John ‘Reid,’ III, Davis, and Katherine, this College Park native graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Computer Science.

Kay is passionate about education and mentoring young people -- to whom she dedicates many hours of support every month – and excited about the role that technology can and should play in expanding the reach of the humanities in the twenty-first century: “I'm convinced universities must find n e w, creative ways to leverage technology and drive change. It is great to see Claudio and UGA History challenge traditional thinking and put UGA clearly in the national vanguard in digital history. We want to encourage UGA to continue this innovative effort and to help fuel the terrific progress that's been made and keep UGA digital history #1!”

Kay’s husband John is Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Coca-Cola Enterprises and visits campus often to speak in the department about how students can use a history degree to excel in their careers.

Pursing new avenues such as digital history requires commitment from the leaders of the university and department, plus donors who can support innovative educational and scholarly initiatives. The Kay Parker Digital Humanities Award Fund provides an annual award for an outstanding undergraduate student involved in a digital history project. “ We are one of the leading departments in the country in digital history,” says department chair Claudio Saunt, “and the Parkers’ generosity will help us stay at the forefront.”

For more information on making a gift, please visit: http://gail.uga.edu/history Department of History NON-PROFIT LeConte Hall ORGANIZATION University of Georgia US POSTAGE Athens, GA 30602-6203 PAID ATHENS, GA Return Service Requested PERMIT #515