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University of Mississippi

Archive for the ‘Department of History’ Category

Women’s History Month Speaker: Anne Balay

Posted on: March 5th, 2019 by

Anne Balay lectures at 4 p.m. for this special Monday Brown Bag as part of Women’s History Month. Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral histories of gay, transsexual, and minority truck drivers allow award-winning author Anne Balay to shed new light on the harsh realities of truckers’ lives behind the wheel. A licensed commercial truck driver herself, Balay discovers that, for people routinely subjected to prejudice, hatred, and violence in their hometowns and in the job market, trucking can provide an opportunity for safety, welcome isolation, and a chance to be themselves—even as the low-wage work is fraught with tightening regulations, constant surveillance, danger, and exploitation. The narratives of minority and queer truckers underscore the working-class struggle to earn a living while preserving one’s safety, dignity, and selfhood.

Anne Balay is winner of the Lambda Literary Emerging Writers Award. She teaches in gender and sexuality studies at Haverford College and is the author of Steel Closets.

The Brown Bag Lecture Series takes place in the Tupelo Room of Barnard Observatory unless otherwise noted. Visit southernstudies.olemiss.edu for more information.

“Centrism and moderation? No thanks.”

Posted on: February 27th, 2019 by

April Holm, associate professor of history at the University of Mississippi and the author of A Kingdom Divided: Evangelicals, Loyalty, and Sectionalism in the Civil War Era, is in the Washington Post. Click here to read the article!

 

Noell Howell Wilson

Posted on: November 14th, 2018 by

Croft Associate Professor of History & International Studies & Department Chair

Bishop Hall 310
(662) 915-7148 |  nrwilson@olemiss.edu

Education
Ph.D, Harvard University

Teaching and Research Interests
Asia, Maritime History

After studying Japanese as an undergraduate at Wake Forest University (BA in History 1994), Noell Wilson spent a year as a JET teacher in Hokkaido, Japan before returning to complete an AM in Regional Studies East Asia (1997) and then a Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages (2004), both at Harvard University. Her first book, Defensive Positions: The Politics of Maritime Security in Tokugawa Japan (Harvard University Asia Center, 2015) examined the influence of coastal defense on early modern state formation. Current research explores the role of US whalers in integrating mid-nineteenth century Japan and Korea into an emergent North Pacific commercial and cultural web. She teaches Japanese history in the Department of History and East Asian studies at the Croft Institute. Together with Professor Howard, Wilson also offers NCTA (National Consortium for Teaching about Asia) workshops for secondary school teachers, which are organized by the Croft Institute.

Phi Beta Kappa Visting Scholar Judith Carney to Speak

Posted on: August 28th, 2017 by

Judith Carney, Professor of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles, will speak on “Seeds of Memory: Food Legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade” as the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar on Thursday, September 14 at 5:30 pm in the Tupelo Room inside Barnard Observatory.

Few Americans identify slavery with the cultivation of rice. Yet rice was a major plantation crop during the first centuries of settlement in the Americas. By the middle of the eighteenth century, rice plantations in South Carolina, and the enslaved Africans who worked them, had created one of the world’s most profitable economies. A longstanding question in American historiography is how rice, a crop introduced to the Americas, came to be cultivated in plantation societies. This lecture discusses the provenance of rice and its cultural antecedents in the Americas. It establishes, through agricultural and historical evidence, the independent domestication of rice in West Africa and the crop’s vital significance there for a millennium before Europeans arrived and the transatlantic slave trade began. This rice accompanied enslaved Africans throughout the New World, including Southern colonies, Brazil, and the Caribbean. Slaves from the West African rice region established rice as a food crop and provided the critical knowledge that enabled its cultivation. A comparative analysis of land use, methods of cultivation, processing and cooking traditions on both sides of the Atlantic during the plantation era help fill in the historical record. Recent genetics research and findings of African rice in botanical collections and among contemporary maroon societies of Suriname lend support for the African lineaments of rice culture in the Americas.

Carney’s research centers on African ecology and development, food security, gender and agrarian change, and African contributions to New World environmental history. She is the author of Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas and In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World.

UM History Department Named for Arch Dalrymple III

Posted on: April 28th, 2015 by

Photo by Robert Jordan/UM Communications

The late Arch Dalrymple III would likely have become a history professor, except that his father’s untimely death kept the young University of Mississippi (UM) graduate at home to run the family’s businesses and take care of his mother and younger sisters.

Dalrymple first came to the university in the early 1940s, left to serve as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II and then returned to earn an undergraduate degree in history in 1947. While he was in the service, he earned college credit from Amherst College and Cornell University.

As the Amory, Mississippi, native developed into a highly successful businessman and widely respected civic leader, Dalrymple found avenues to pursue his love of history and contribute to his state’s historic preservation efforts, including 32 years as a trustee of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). He also served as president of the Mississippi Historical Society in 1976-77.

Today, UM leaders announced the first named department on the Oxford campus: the Arch Dalrymple III Department of History. Martha Dowd Dalrymple, his daughter and business partner, joined the announcement to reveal her $5 million gift to undergird teaching, research and service efforts of the Arch Dalrymple III Department of History.

“Daddy was passionate about history. One of his final wishes before his death in 2010 was that an endowment be created at the University of Mississippi Department of History. He always felt our lives are shaped by the lessons we learn from history,” said Martha Dalrymple. “Daddy was a part of the ‘greatest generation’ that instilled in him the value of a strong work ethic and the importance of giving back to his country, state and community. Our family has had a long history with the University of Mississippi, and I am pleased to give back to honor his name.”

UM Chancellor Dan Jones and Martha Dalrymple unveiled a large bronze plaque to be installed in Bishop Hall, home to the history department.

“This is truly a great day in the life of the University of Mississippi,” the chancellor said. “We are extremely proud for our Department of History to bear the name of such a brilliant man, a dedicated scholar and influential leader. When students, faculty, visitors and others see the Arch Dalrymple name, we want them to be inspired by his deep commitment to history and historic preservation and by his tremendous commitment to service. Our state is stronger because of Arch Dalrymple, and now his alma mater is stronger because of this gift made in his memory.”

Previously, in 1986, Arch and his wife, Adine Lampton Wallace Dalrymple, had funded the Dalrymple Lecture Series in Mathematics at UM to bring distinguished speakers in mathematics to campus. “To Daddy, history and math were the two most important areas of study needed to strengthen our great nation. One of his favorite quotes was that of Winston Churchill – ‘The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see,’” Martha Dalrymple said.

Holmes Adams of Jackson, Mississippi, Arch Dalrymple’s attorney and friend for more than 25 years, spoke to the fitting nature of his name being permanently linked with the university and the study of history.

“It is appropriate to name the Department of History for Arch Dalrymple because he was a true amateur historian in the classic sense of the word ‘amateur,’ that is, one who engages in a study, sport or activity for pleasure, not for financial benefit or professional reasons. If my memory is correct, the word ‘amateur’ derives from the Latin verb ‘amo,’ or ‘I love.’ Arch loved the study of history – of his home community, his state, his country and the world.”

That love and dedication can be seen through his work with MDAH, the comprehensive historical agency that collects, preserves and provides access to the archival resources of the state; administers museums and historic sites; and oversees statewide programs for historic preservation, government records management and publications, said Elbert Hilliard, MDAH director emeritus, who worked with Arch Dalrymple for three decades.

“Arch Dalrymple was a man of great courage and integrity. He stood with the MDAH staff and provided invaluable support for the department’s administration and implementation of the State Antiquities Act that was enacted by the Mississippi legislature to help preserve our state’s historic sites and buildings for future generations,” Hilliard said. “Mr. Dalrymple had a great love of history and was a MDAH trustee whom you could count on to stay abreast of issues related to the department’s mission.”

Joseph Ward, chair of history, expressed appreciation for the naming of the department and the infusion of new resources, which will be held in a permanent endowment.

“Martha Dalrymple’s decision to honor her father in this way will be a lasting benefit to the Department of History’s faculty and students. It will enhance research and teaching in every area of historical scholarship we offer. The confidence that Ms. Dalrymple has shown in our faculty and students through her incredible generosity will provide great encouragement to our work both now and far into the future.”

The endowment at the state’s flagship university now stands at approximately $600 million, and endowed gifts, such as Dalrymple’s, provide the margin of excellence in academics. “This magnificent gift provides a permanent tribute to the extraordinary life of Arch Dalrymple,” said Deborah Vaughn, senior executive director of development and chief development officer. “In addition, this significant investment will have a far-reaching impact on the lives of our history students and faculty, as they pursue meaningful study and research.”

Former Mississippi Gov. William Winter was a college classmate and longtime friend with the honoree. “This is a highly important and timely recognition of one of Ole Miss’ most distinguished alumni. Arch was a dedicated and highly informed historian, who developed much of his interest in history as a result of his study under the great history professors who were a part of the Ole Miss faculty when we were there together in the 1940s. The importance of the study and knowledge of history was passionately felt by Arch, and he did much to advance that cause in our state.”

Dalrymple’s business interests included farming, timber, cattle, commercial and residential real estate, and oil and gas. He was a passionate sportsman and conservationist, tireless advocate for public education, and a generous philanthropist. He created the Dalrymple Family Foundation to benefit the arts, culture, education, humanities and conservation in Northeast Mississippi. Martha Dalrymple serves as president of the foundation. Her husband is James L. Cummins, the executive director of Wildlife Mississippi.

Arch Dalrymple served on the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Officer Selection Board and on the Mississippi Economic Council and as the first chairman of the Amory City Planning Commission. He was a longtime trustee of the Amory School District, serving as president from 1968 to 1972, as well as a design advisor for construction of the Amory Middle and Elementary schools. He initiated the founding of the Mississippi Schools Board Association and was a member of the Mississippi Governor’s School Finance Study Group.

He served for many years as a director on the Trustmark National Bank board. He was also a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization founded in 1783 consisting of direct descendants of the officer corps of Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army. At his alma mater, he provided guidance on the School of Engineering Advisory Board, as well as the Ole Miss Alumni Association Board. Widely read in history, government, economics and foreign affairs, Dalrymple was admired as an amusing and knowledgeable storyteller.

He wrote six volumes of family history for his three daughters – Martha Dalrymple of Amory, Mary Cameron of Oxford and Jane Dalrymple-Hollo of Boulder, Co. – three grandchildren and his extended family. Mary Cameron, her husband, Alan, and their daughter Adine, all graduated from Ole Miss.

In one of the volumes Arch Dalrymple wrote about family trees: “Assembling charts and dates is really pretty dull stuff. More interesting and instructive is learning just who the people were – how they fit into the time stream of history and the fabric of the society in which they lived – in short, to put a name, an individual in historical context. Only then does the ‘tree’ come to life.”

Arch Dalrymple’s sisters, the late Jane Whitehead of Memphis, Tenn., and Martha Guffey of Dallas, Texas, are both Ole Miss alumna. Guffey said she believes under different family circumstances her brother would have become a history professor, making the naming of the history department very meaningful.

“Arch would have been very pleased,” she said of the announcement. “He had a good experience at Ole Miss, and history professor Jim Silver was a favorite of his, as well as others.”

A connoisseur of architecture and landscape design, Dalrymple also traveled extensively in Europe with his beloved wife, “Deanie,” and was particularly fond of visiting Scotland, where he cultivated many friendships. The Dalrymples were members of the First Presbyterian Church of Amory.

By Tina Hahn | April 27, 2015

Graduate Student Travis Jaquess Wins Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Research Competition

Posted on: April 21st, 2015 by

University of Mississippi history graduate student Travis Jaquess, whose research focuses on fatherhood in colonial America, recently tied for first place in the university-wide Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition. This competition celebrates the exciting research conducted by masters and doctoral students. Developed by the University of Queensland and promoted by graduate schools  around the world, the exercise cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. The competition challenges graduate students to explain their research thesis/dissertation topic and its significance in three minutes using one PowerPoint slide and language appropriate to a nonspecialist audience, a critical skill for graduate students across all academic disciplines. Watch Jaquess’s award-winning presentation here.

Students Study Oprah Winfrey in ‘The Power of O’

Posted on: April 21st, 2015 by

As the warm coffee aroma filled Starbucks, Professor Shennette Garrett-Scott and her students met for a lecture while enjoying Teavana Oprah Chai Tea Lattes.

The tea was appropriate for the class, “The Power of O,” which focuses on billionaire Oprah Winfrey.

Winfrey, who was born in Mississippi, is an influential figure in many different areas. She is an actress, a movie and television producer, a philanthropist and an award-winning talk show host who owns a cable television network.

Garrett-Scott, an assistant professor of history and African-American Studies, said that she created the course as a way to “look critically at various aspects of Oprah’s life, career and brand to contextualize her experience.”

“My goal is to share some of my ruminations about Oprah’s impact on American culture and contemporary black women,” said Garrett-Scott, who was the speaker at a brown-bag event in February entitled “‘Oprah Don’t Play!’: Black Women and the (A)Politics of Respectability in the 21st Century.”

“Though Oprah’s story is often told as a rags-to-riches tale of an exceptional individual who overcame incredible odds, she did not emerge out of a vacuum nor does she operate in one,” Garrett-Scott said. “I wanted to draw in considerations of politics and the economy — or, more to the point, money and power — in and beyond popular media.”

The objective of the “Power of O” course, according to the syllabus, is to pay close attention to race and representation, gender, sexuality, economics and politics to explore where power lies and how it operates. Eight students are enrolled in the seminar class.

Dyamone White, a senior majoring in integrated marketing communications, is a student in the class.

“There are so many misconceptions about Oprah and her life, but Dr. Scott has revealed with evidence some true facts that make Oprah seem so regular – just like us,” White said.

Parker Hill, a philosophy major and student in the course, said that her most enjoyable discussion was based on an article identifying Oprah as a de facto feminist.

“The author claimed that despite her accumulation of wealth, allowing her to speak as freely as she pleases, the negative connotations of being a feminist made Oprah disassociate herself from being one in name,” Hill said. “Ironically, her personal actions comply with the idea of a feminist by some definitions. Some agreed with the assessment, others did not, but it was still interesting to discuss.”

When asked how black women can gain respect in the 21st century, Garrett-Scott responded, “The proper question to ask would be, ‘What can black women learn from their past to equip them for the challenges of the 21st century?’”

She continued on to say, “In some ways, these challenges are unique to our particular time and place. In others, they are persistent challenges in a society that continues to devalue blackness and womanness.”

Though Oprah is the focus of the course, “The Power of O” includes topics other than Oprah herself.

“We discuss theories like Antonio Gramsci and cultural hegemony and Jürgen Habermas and public spheres,” Garrett-Scott said.

The class has also explored the history of representations of black woman in popular media.

By Tisha Coleman | April 1, 2015 | courtesy of The Daily Mississippian

UM Journalism Professor Curtis Wilkie Discusses His New Book

Posted on: September 25th, 2014 by

Memories-of-the-BizzareCurtis Wilkie, whose newspaper career spanned nearly four decades before he joined the journalism faculty and became an Overby Fellow at the University of Mississippi, will appear at his campus habitat, the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics, at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, to talk about a new collection of his stories with another Mississippi journalist, his friend Charles Overby.

Wilkie’s book, “Assassins, Eccentrics, Politicians and Other Persons of Interest: Fifty Pieces from the Road,” was published this month by University Press of Mississippi. A week after the anthology became available it was listed as the second best-selling book in the state by the Clarion-Ledger.

Overby, the chairman of the university’s center, led the Clarion-Ledger to a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 when he was executive editor of the newspaper. He will conduct a conversation with Wilkie about the craft of writing and the wealth of Mississippi stories which appear in the book.

The event is free and open to the public. Arrangements have been made with university officials to provide free parking for guests in a lot adjacent to the Overby Center.

A 1963 graduate of Ole Miss, Wilkie’s first job was at the Clarksdale Press Register when a “local story” – the civil rights movement – grew into the biggest story in the nation. He spent most of his career as a national and foreign correspondent for the Boston Globe, covering eight presidential campaigns, serving as chief of the Globe’s Middle East bureau in Jerusalem in the mid-1980s and reporting on stories from more than fifty countries. But many of Wilkie’s most memorable articles were set in the South and are included in the book.

The collection contains accounts of Martin Luther King’s last days in the Delta, the trials and convictions of two Mississippi assassins of other civil rights leaders, and the rise of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Trent Lott — as well as profiles of colorful figures from the “Gonzo” writer Hunter S. Thompson to the PLO military leader Abu Jihad.

Writing in the Oxford Eagle earlier this month, editor Don Whitten said the stories “still appear as fresh as the day they appeared.” In a review in the Clarion-Ledger, Sid Salter called the book “one hell of an entertaining read” and said “it is in Wilkie’s nuanced, compelling and enlightening storytelling that the worth of this book is revealed.”

Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics
555 Grove Loop, Suite 247
University, MS 38677

www.overbycenter.org

Fortune History Symposium Examines Science, Medicine and Making of Race

Posted on: February 29th, 2012 by

OXFORD, Miss. – Exploring the intersection of scientific ideas about race and gender with medical practice and experimentation, the annual Porter L. Fortune Jr. History Symposium convenes March 8-10 at the University of Mississippi.

The conference, titled “Science, Medicine and the Making of Race,” is sponsored by the UM Department of History. Londa Schiebinger, the John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science at Stanford University, is the keynote speaker for the three-day event. Her talk, set for 5 p.m. March 9 in the Yerby Center Auditorium, is free and open to the public.The focus of this year’s symposium is on addressing medical research on nonwhite bodies between the 18th and 20th centuries.
“My colleague, Theresa Levitt, and I decided upon the theme for this year’s symposium because there is so much fine scholarship being produced on medicine and the making of race,” said Deirdre Cooper Owens, assistant professor of history and conference co-coordinator. “We especially thought this year’s Porter Fortune symposium would be especially salient for the University of Mississippi community as we have ended a discussion on Henrietta Lacks, race and scientific research.”

While the symposium is geared mainly toward specialists, anyone curious about broad themes such as race, gender and science is welcome.

“We hope that the keynote address will be widely attended with members of the general public,” said Levitt, associate professor of history. “The sessions will draw together historians of science, medicine and anyone interested in these issues. I hope that it will be useful to talk with someone working on similar topics, from a different perspective.”

Owens said her hope is that panel participants will see how the university, especially its history department, is producing exciting new scholarship on race, gender, science and the history of medicine.

“Professionally, I believe scholars will be able to assess new trends in the history-of-medicine field and investigate how institutions like slavery, colonial settlements and even politicized movements have helped to either develop or influence the way doctors and scientists research and write about race,” Cooper Owens said.

Schiebinger is the author of “Nature’s Body: Gender in the Making of Modern Science,” winner of the 1995 Ludwik Fleck Book Prize, and “Plants and Empire: Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic World” (French Colonial Historical Society, 2005), winner of the 2005 AHA prize in Atlantic History and the Alf Andrew Heggoy Book Prize.

“The Porter Fortune Jr. History Symposium is the most important public lecture series sponsored by the Department of History each year,” said Joseph Ward, chair and associate professor of history. “We hope that members of the general public, as well as UM faculty, staff and students, will take the opportunity to attend sessions that interest them.”

The university and the history department have conducted the Porter Fortune Symposium on various topics every year since 1975. A number of thematic sessions are planned in addition to the keynote address. Typically, selections of the papers appear in an edited volume.

“For 37 years, the Porter L. Fortune Symposium has been an important event in the scholarship of Southern history and the College of Liberal Arts,” said Glenn Hopkins, dean of liberal arts.

For more information, including a conference schedule, visit https://www.olemiss.edu/depts/history/.