Department of History

The History Department's PhD graduate and visiting instructor for the past several years, Boris Gorshkov, has just published a great book with the University of Pittsburgh Press: Russia's Factory Children: State, Society, and Law, 1800-1917.

At the height of the Russian industrial revolution, legions of children toiled in factories, accounting for fifteen percent of the workforce. Yet, by the end of the nineteenth century, their numbers had been greatly reduced, thanks to legislation that sought to protect the welfare of children for the first time.

Russia's Factory Children presents the first English-language account of the changing role of children in the Russian workforce, from the onset of industrialization until the Communist Revolution of 1917, and profiles the laws that would establish children's labor rights.

In this compelling study, Boris B. Gorshkov examines the daily lives, working conditions, hours, wages, physical risks, and health dangers to children who labored in Russian factories. He also chronicles the evolving cultural mores that initially welcomed child labor practices but later shunned them.

Through extensive archival research, Gorshkov views the evolution of Russian child labor law as a reaction to the rise of industrialism and the increasing dangers of the workplace. Perhaps most remarkable is his revelation that activism, from the bourgeoisie, intellectuals, and children themselves, led to the conciliation of legislators and marked a progressive shift that would impact Russian society in the early twentieth century and beyond.

Wesley Newton, a former pro­fessor in Auburn University's history department, has been honored for an article he co-wrote with Jerome En­nels and Joseph Caver, histo­rians at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base, about the first two Tuskegee Airmen lost in combat.

Records showed that 1st Lt. Sherman White Jr. of Mont­gomery and 2nd Lt. James McCullin of St. Louis, were shot down over Italy, but the authors of the article -- which was published in Air Pow­er History -- discovered that they may have met another fate.

The article was selected as the Best Air Power History Article of 2008.

More information can be found in the October 24, 2009, Montgomery Advertiser and at the Air Power History website.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, Dr. Kelly M. Kennington, the Law & Society Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Legal Studies, University of Wisconsin Law School, will be on Auburn's campus to give a lecture entitled, "We the People? Slavery and the U.S. Constitution." The lecture will be held in room 2222 of the new student center at 3:30 p.m. and will be followed by a reception.

This lecture is free and open to everyone.

In this talk, Dr. Kennington will examine the key constitutional articles relating to the institution of slavery and the interpretation of these elements by the Supreme Court during the seventy-five years from the birth of the United States to the American Civil War.

The lecture is sponsored by the Auburn University Provost Office, Department of History and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, both located in the College of Liberal Arts.

For more information, contact:
Charles A. Israel
Chair, Department of History
Auburn University
310 Thach Hall
334-844-6768
cisrael@auburn.edu

Morris Bian is an Associate Professor of History at Auburn University. Dr. Bian was born and raised in China, where he also received a BA in political science and a MA in history. He came to the US in the late 1980s to pursue advanced degrees in history. He earned a MA in United States History from Southern Illinois University in 1991 and a PhD in Chinese History from the University of Washington in 1998. In September 1998 he accepted a position as an assistant professor in the Department of History at Auburn University and has been teaching at AU ever since. His teaching responsibilities include courses in modern Chinese history, East Asian history, and world history at the undergraduate and graduate level. His research focuses on twentieth-century Chinese political, economic, and institutional history. He has published articles in prominent professional journals such as Modern China and Enterprise & Society. His first book, The Making of the State Enterprise System in Modern China: The Dynamics of Institutional Change (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005), was recognized by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title of the Year. In 2007 the International Convention of Asian Scholars named his book one of the top ten social science books in Asian studies, an award chosen from titles published around the world during the previous two years. His current research project explores the formation of China's regional state enterprise system during the twentieth-century.

The CLA Student Services Center (this includes all Advisor and Administrative offices) is moving to 321 Tichenor Hall. We hope to be open for advising in our new offices on Aug. 26. We will be closed on the afternoon of Aug. 21 and all day Aug. 24 and Aug. 25 in order to make the move. Please keep checking your email for updates--as with all moves, there may be some last minute changes to the schedule.

The Department of Communication and Journalism will also be moving back to Tichenor. Please look for more information from the Department.

Dr. Morris Bian has been awarded the Creative Research and Scholarship Award, Liberal Arts Category, by the Auburn University office of the Vice President for Research. There was only one award in this category and it is a great honor for Dr. Bian.

The award will be formally presented on October 27 at the Faculty Awards for Excellence Ceremony.

Congratulates to Dr. Bian for this recognition of his scholarship!

Fulbright Scholarship Awarded to History Prof.

Cathleen M. Giustino, Associate Professor of History, has been awarded a Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) Fulbright Research Scholarship for work in Prague during the 2009-2010 academic year. She will be affiliated with the Institute of Art History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. While there she will gather research materials for her current book project, a study of collective memory and confiscated cultural property, including castles, chateaux, art and antiques, in communist Czechoslovakia. She is particularly interested in examining popular reception of the network of museums that communist officials established in sequestered architectural monuments and filled with exhibitions designed to display the domestic lives of Bohemia's aristocracy during various periods of history. Her study is a new avenue for the exploration of the effectiveness of communist state efforts to engineer society and win legitimacy through leisure, entertainment, and related forms of cultural programming. Ultimately, Giustino hopes her work will advance our understanding of how communist regimes in the former Warsaw Pact held power for as long as they did and why in our current post-socialist age there is considerable longing for a return to the past in former east bloc countries.

For her Fulbright research Dr. Giustino will work with archival materials in the National Archive of the Czech Republic and also regional archives, museums, and historic monuments throughout the country. She has worked extensively in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic in the past, including from 1990-1993 when she held her first Fulbright, in addition to awards from the International Research Exchange Board (IREX) and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). She earned her PhD from the University of Chicago and is author of Tearing Down Prague's Jewish Town, a study of the local politics of architecture and design in Prague around 1900. She serves on the editorial board of HABSBURG, an H-Net list dedicated to the history of the Habsburg Monarchy and its successor states, and is co-editing a collection of articles entitled, "Socialist Escapes: Breaks from the Everyday in Eastern Europe, 1945-1989."

Jeff Jakeman, associate professor of history and a College of Liberal Arts' Engaged Scholar, has been honored by the Alabama Historical Association for service as editor of the state's scholarly historical journal, The Alabama Review. In a resolution adopted by the AHA board of directors, the association commended Jakeman for producing 50 issues of the journal from 1995-2008, making the Review accessible and of interest to the general reader as well as the scholarly community, and mentoring numerous graduate research assistants who have gone on to make contributions to the field of history. The CLA Engaged Scholar program is designed to support superior faculty in the college and strengthen student and faculty engagement in the local community as well as national and international arenas.

More information on the program and a list of current faculty

By Maiben Beard

Jay Lamar, Director of the Caroline Marshall Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, was awarded the Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton Award of the Alabama Historical Association at its annual awards banquet held on April 24, 2009, in Tuscaloosa.

Named for the premier Alabama historian of the latter half of the twentieth century, the highly regarded award recognizes someone or some entity that excels in making local, state and regional history accessible to both a general and academic audience. Previous winners include Dr. Wayne Flynt and Dr. Leah Rawls Atkins, both retired Auburn faculty members, and other scholars from across the state.

In his remarks presenting the Award, Dr. David Alsobrook, Director of the City of Mobile Museum and former director of both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton Presidential Libraries, commented on Ms. Lamar's well-honed skills as an editor, as well as her vision and energy in organizing outreach activities throughout the state.

The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities is the dedicated outreach office for the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts. Founded in 1985, its mission is to strengthen the bonds between the academic community and the general public through arts and humanities initiatives in schools, towns and communities around the state. For more information about the Center, visit www.auburn.edu/cah or call 334-844-4946.

Caption for above image: Map of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Courtesy of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama.

By Maiben Beard and Kate Winford

The Creek War and the War of 1812 will be the subject of a two-day public symposium May 22-23 at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University. Scholars from around the country will talk about how these events changed the course of Creek Indian and American history.

"The gathering will celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the establishment of Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Daviston and launch a commemoration of the seminal conflict that took place at this site," said Kathryn Braund, a professor of history in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University and an expert on Creek Indian history. "In addition, participants will examine new research on the Creek War and the War of 1812."

The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities in Auburn's College of Liberal Arts and Horseshoe Bend National Military Park are co-sponsors of the symposium. It is funded in part by the National Park Service.

Speakers will represent Western Carolina University, the University of Michigan, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the Creek Council House Museum, Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Fort Toulouse and Fort Jackson, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, Auburn University, Auburn University Montgomery, the University of South Alabama and independent scholars.

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, located 30 miles from Auburn, is one of four War of 1812 parks in the National Park System. It is the site of an 1814 battle in which General Andrew Jackson led an army of 3,300 to defeat 1,000 Upper Creek warriors. As a result of the battle, the Creeks ceded some 20 million acres of land to the United States.

The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities is the dedicated outreach office for the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts. Founded in 1985, its mission is to strengthen the bonds between the academic community and the general public through arts and humanities initiatives in schools, towns and communities around the state.

Registration for the conference is $25 for one day, $40 for both days and includes lunch and refreshments. For the registration form, the schedule and a list of presenters, go to www.auburn.edu/creekwar or call (334) 844-4948.

Contact: Maiben Beard, 334-844-4903, maiben.beard@auburn.edu

The Encyclopedia of Alabama has been named a "Best of Free Reference" by the library field's leading professional publication, Library Journal:

The journal described the EoA as "an excellent example of a well-designed site on the history, culture, and geography of a U.S. state. Developed by the Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University, it includes enhanced multimedia content."

The Library Journal is 132-year-old year publication. It is read by more than 100,000 library directors, administrators, and staff in public, academic, and special libraries, and is considered to be the "bible" of the library world. Making their annual list of top reference works something that does not come easy. The entire list of "Best Reference 2008" may be found here.

This recognition from Library Journal is the result of the efforts of hundreds of individuals and organizations who have contributed their time, money, and knowledge to the project. But EOA would never have been launched without the efforts of a talented and dedicated editorial staff who labor daily in their offices on the first floor of RBD library. They are due hearty thanks and congratulations for this well-deserved recognition.

Information provided by Paul A. Harris, Ph.D., Associate Director for National Prestigious Scholarships in the University Honors College, Auburn University

The following students within the College of Liberal Arts were recognized for their outstanding achievement at the 6th Annual Undergraduate Research Forum which was held on Monday and Tuesday, April 6th & 7th 2009.

2009 Sigma Xi Best Overall Poster Presentation Award - Annie Gilbertson, 2nd Place, Senior, Department of English. Faculty Advisor: Dr. Alicia Carroll.

2009 Office of Undergraduate Studies Award - Sarah Teague, 1st Place, Senior, Department of Psychology. She is also the Spring 2009 CLA Graduation Marshal. Faculty Advisor: Dr. Adrian Thomas.

2009 Office of Undergraduate Studies Award - John Johnson, 2nd Place, Senior, Department of History. Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Brooks.

Other award winners and runners up are:

Lauren Roddy, a senior in English, is a finalist for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Fellowship. Less than 40 students nationwide are selected to receive the award. Ms. Roddy is one of two Auburn undergraduates who are representing Auburn at the national level competition. If awarded, the scholarship will pay $90,000.00 for law school. Final decisions will be mady by end of May / early June.

Katherine Davis, a junior in political science, was a finalist for the highly competitive Truman Scholarship. Each year 50 students are selected to receive the award. Ms. Davis was the only Auburn undergraduate - and one of 600 students nationwide - who was invited to the day-long interview held on the campus of Georgia Tech on Thursday, March 5th.

Chantel Smith, a graduate student in The Department of Foreign Languages (Hispanic Studies), has been awarded a Rotary Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship to pursue French language studies in Tours, France during academic year 2009-2010.

Rebecca Ludvigsen, a senior in biomedical science, (minor: German) received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Germany, 2009-2010.

Other outstanding College of Liberal Arts students include: Ross Harper, a senior in French, is the CLA's Presidential Award and Algernon Sidney Sullivan Award Winner and has applied for a Fulbright Scholarship; Natalie Crowe, a senior in English who applied for a Mitchell Scholarship to study in Ireland; and Christopher Thompson, a senior in History who applied for a Marshall Scholarship. These students exceeded eligibility expectations and put in hours upon hours of work on their respective applications.

Congratulations to our outstanding students!

The CLA Engaged Scholar program is designed to support superior faculty in the college, and, through the quality of the recipients' work, to strengthen student and faculty engagement in the local community as well as nationally and internationally.

The CLA Engaged Scholars for 2009-2012 are Lindy Biggs, History, Elizabeth Brestan Knight, Psychology, Barry Burkhart, Psychology; Nan Fairley, Communication and Journalism, Karen Garrison, Music, and Giovanna Summerfield, Foreign Languages and Literatures. Each chosen faculty member will hold the title of CLA Engaged Scholar for a three-year appointment and will receive an annual supplement of $5,000. A committee selected the 6 recipients based on exemplary professional citizenship and participation in promoting the college's commitment to civic engagement.

The Encyclopedia of Alabama spotlights 18 of its entries on Alabama women in the "Features" section, which is accessible through the EOA homepage.

The accomplishments of Alabama women resonate across the state, the nation, and the world. Three have received the nation's highest civilian awards: Helen Keller, the Congressional Medal of Freedom; Rosa Parks, the Congressional Gold Medal; and Harper Lee, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Alabama women have broken barriers in the military, the law, education, and sports; influenced politics, institutions, and religion; and enriched lives through music, literature, and art.

The Encyclopedia of Alabama is a comprehensive online reference work on the state's history, culture, geography, and natural environment. It is available for free from any computer with Internet access. EOA is similar to a traditional print encyclopedia in its emphasis on authoritative content based on sound scholarship. But, the online format makes it a modern reference tool offering video, audio, graphics, and hyperlinks.

Any undergraduate or graduate student enrolled at Auburn University is eligible to submit a video. Only one video may be entered per person or group.

$500 will be awarded to the creator(s) of the video selected as the first place winner. The creator(s) of the second and third place videos will receive $250 and $150, respectively. Prize money is sponsored by Auburn University's College of Liberal Arts.
The three winning videos will also be showcased on the CLA website.

To submit a video, upload your video on YouTube and then email its url to Christa Slaton, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at ccepc@auburn.edu. Emails must be sent from an Auburn University email account. Please type "CLA YouTube Contest" in the subject line of your email, and include in the body of the email the names of the person, persons, or group submitting the video. The College of Liberal Arts will make your video available for viewing on the contest website. You will receive confirmation email from the College of Liberal Arts indicating that your video entry has been received.

In the event that you are unfamiliar with how to upload a video to YouTube, directions are available at http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=57931.

Videos need to be between one and five minutes in length.

The deadline for submitting videos is March 27, 2009. Videos received after the deadline cannot be considered.

Between April 1 and April 5, students are invited to vote for their favorite contest video by sending an email to Christa Slaton, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at ccepc@auburn.edu. Emails must be sent from an Auburn University email account. Please type "Vote CLA YouTube" in the subject line of your email and indicate the title of the favorite video in the email's body. Only one vote per person will be tallied.

Videos will be judged by members of the College of Liberal Art's Civic Engagement Planning Committee. Videos will be judged based on the five criteria outlined below:

• Relevance to the contest theme
• Extent to which the video provokes productive reflection, discussion, debate, and/or critique regarding civic responsibility as a feature of learning and living at Auburn University
• Creativity
• Originality
• Number of student votes

Contest winners will be notified via email on April 10, 2009.

View the Video Entries

• Submitted by Amanda Morris
• Submitted by Ashley Nunn
• Submitted by John Anderson
• Submitted by Griffin Limerick and John Collins
• Submitted by Jillian Clair
• Submitted by Mallory Rice

The Alabama Arts Radio Series, which interviews influential Alabama figures, has made its interview with Dr. Wayne Flynt available online.

The program is a rebroadcast of ASCA folklorist Joey Brackner interviewing preeminent Alabama historian Dr. Wayne Flynt about his book Alabama in the Twentieth Century. In the interview Dr. Flynt outlines the significant cultural contributions of Alabamians during the late century. Wayne Flynt is the Distinguished University Professor of History at Auburn University.

The interview is available at the Alabama Arts website.

"From Dr. King to Mr. President: The African-American Journey from Civil Rights to the White House" was the topic of a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, Jan. 15, in the AU Student Center

The discussion featured AU experts guiding a dialogue on the significance and symbolism of the election of President-elect Barack Obama in relation to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision for America. Dr. David C. Carter, associate professor of history at AU, moderated.

"We want to examine what Barack Obama's election as President means for African-Americans," said the Rev. Dr. Wells Warren, Episcopal Chaplain to Auburn University. "Dr. King gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech in the nation's capitol almost fifty years ago, and we want to talk about that dream of equality and opportunity for all Americans."

The event is part of the 10th annual celebration of the Life and Ministry of Dr. King sponsored by St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church in downtown Auburn. The Town Hall Meeting is being co-sponsored by the AU College of Liberal Arts Diversity Officers Team.

Please view the town hall meeting in two parts at http://media.cla.auburn.edu/cla/podcasts/index.cfm.

AU's Sustainability Initiative has been granted permanent status by Auburn University. Instead of operating on soft funding, as it has for the past five years, it is now officially AU's Office of Sustainability. The History Department would like to congratulate the office's director, Lindy Biggs, who is an Associate Professor of History with specialties in History of Technology and Environmental History. A life-long environmentalist, she feels that promoting sustainability is a perfect way for her to bring together her knowledge of technology (especially the technology of manufacturing) and the environment.

The granting of permanent status to this unit ensures AU's sustainability goals will be addressed and met through a dedicated office, and strengthens the university's commitment to sustainability through the strategic plan and the ACUPCC (American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment).

Students from Auburn University's Design-Build Masters Program have researched, designed, and constructed a replica of a slave cabin that was installed Saturday, Nov. 1, in Westville -- a living history town in Lumpkin, Ga., that portrays life in the preindustrial South of 1850. The village has historically accurate buildings, such as houses, schools, churches and shops, but has not had interpretations of slave houses that would have existed during that period.

Westville's board of trustees approached Anthony Carey, former chair of Auburn's Department of History, and D.K. Ruth of Auburn's Design-Build Masters Program to help construct a historically correct 1850s slave cabin. Students, in a studio under the direction of visiting professor Anthony Tindill, created a plan for the design and construction of the structure. Westville then cut lumber to specifications and shipped the material to Auburn. As a teaching tool for the students, the house was first constructed at Auburn.

For more information, contact Tindill at tindiat@auburn.edu or (813) 731-5355.

Gov. Bob Riley is scheduled to officially present the Encyclopedia of Alabama to the state during the annual Alabama Humanities Awards Luncheon in Birmingham. The Encyclopedia of Alabama (www.EncyclopediaofAlabama.org) is like a traditional print encyclopedia with its emphasis on authoritative content based on sound scholarship; the edited entries are written by scholars and experts from across the globe. But the online format makes it a modern reference tool offering video, audio, graphics and hyperlinks. More than 40 Alabama organizations, including archives, museums and businesses, have provided multimedia content for the project. The site launches with more than 500 articles, 2,000 images and four hours of video clips. New content will be added on a weekly basis--more than 5,000 potential articles have been identified and that list continues to grow.

Patience Essah, an associate professor of history, has been a member of the faculty at Auburn University since 1990. She holds a BA degree from the University of Ghana at Legon, and the MA and PhD degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles. She teaches courses in Africana, African, African-American and World history. Her research focuses on the history of the slave trade, slavery and emancipation. She is the author of A House Divided: Slavery and Emancipation in Delaware, 1638-1865. Her current research, an analysis of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, examines the battle to ratify the amendment that offered freedom to all slaves throughout the United States.

Jennifer Brooks, Associate Professor in History, received her PhD in history from the University of Tennessee. After almost a decade of teaching at a small civic arts college in northeast Tennessee, she joined the Auburn History Department in 2006. She teaches courses in the modern South, labor history, and contemporary history. Her first book explored the role of returning veterans in shaping the American South's postwar political landscape. Her current research focuses on labor and working class history in the Cold War era in the South.

Michael Melancon

History

Michael Melancon was born and raised in New Orleans, where he also received a BA in history from Loyola University. After various travels, he served in the U.S. Army where he learned to speak Russian and German. After a two year stint in Germany (1968-1970), he visited the USSR and decided to pursue graduate work in Russian history. During the 1970s he worked on his PhD at Indiana University, Bloomington. After a year of study in the USSR as a Fulbright Fellow and International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) Exchange Student at Leningrad State University, he began teaching at New Mexico State University and the University of Hawaii. His teaching career at Auburn began in 1984. His research focuses on aspects of pre-1917 Russian society and on the Russian Revolutions. His most recent book is The Lena Goldfields Massacre and the Crisis of the Late Tsarist State. After extensive research in Russia over recent years, with generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, IREX, Kennan Institute, the Hoover Institution, and inside Auburn University, he is writing a history of the Russian Revolution, with a focus on the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party. The Left Socialist Revolutionaries were a radical group that initially allied itself with the Bolsheviks and then opposed Lenin's propensity for proactive violence and abandonment of democratic norms. This study bases itself entirely on formerly inaccessible sources and offers a new interpretation of the Russian Revolutionary phenomenon. His next project will be a history of late-tsarist Russian political culture (1861-1917).

Dr. Guy V. Beckwith has been inducted into the Academy of Teaching and Outstanding Teachers. He has been a member of Auburn's faculty for over 28 years, having joined Auburn's History Department on the tenure track in 1980. Dr. Beckwith helped create the university honors program, now the Honors College, and the curriculum for the innovative, team-taught Human Odyssey series (a science-humanities team-taught sequence focusing on the shifts in human perception resulting from discovery and invention). He played a major role in the development of Auburn's nationally recognized undergraduate and graduate programs in Technology and Civilization.

His publications include articles and reviews in such journals as The South Atlantic Quarterly, Technology and Culture, Issues in Integrative Studies, and Science, Technology & Human Values, and an anthology of readings in the history of technology, currently in its fourth edition. One of his lectures, on the role of mythology in ancient societies, was videotaped and broadcast to national audiences on The History Channel. In 1992, he spent a year as Visiting Honors Professor at the University of Central Florida, and received the Honors Medallion. In 1996, Dr. Beckwith was chosen for one of Auburn's Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Awards, and in 2003 he received the College of Liberal Arts Teaching Excellence Award in the Humanities.

On Thursday, April 3 at 4 p.m. in the Foy Ballroom, History Professor Dr. Joseph Kicklighter delivered the inaugural "Final Lecture." The Student Government Association, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Mortar Board sponsored this event as an opportunity for the Class of 2008 to recognize Dr. Kicklighter, a professor in the College of Liberal Arts, as the professor they feel is the most outstanding teacher at Auburn University. Student academic and campus leaders narrowed down a wide pool of nominees to five outstanding professors, then juniors and seniors across campus voted Dr. Kicklighter to deliver the inaugural lecture in this new program.

Dr. Kicklighter delivered this commencement-style address which was open to all students, faculty, and administrators. In his address, Dr. Kicklighter included words of advice and inspiration for students who just began their college career as well as those who are preparing to leave Auburn University for the final time.

The Final Lecture program was created to give all students the opportunity to participate in a teaching award given on behalf of the student body. For a professor to be nominated and voted on by students as the top professor at Auburn University is one of the highest honor students can bestow upon a faculty member.

View the video

OR

Download or share with a friend the video of Dr. Kicklighter's lecture at AU iTunes

Dr. Jeff Frederick, Auburn alumnus and assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, will discuss his new book Stand Up for Alabama: Governor George Wallace, on Tuesday, March 4, at 3 p.m. in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library at Auburn University.

George Wallace governed for nearly a quarter-century at a time when change was sweeping across the South. While previous historians have focused on Wallace's resistance to civil rights or his presidential campaigns, Frederick offer the most comprehensive assessment of Wallace's effect on the state of Alabama.

Frederick earned a PhD in history from Auburn University and specializes in the relationship between politics and society. He has published on a variety of topics including interest groups, female support for conservative politicians, NASCAR, southern governors during the civil rights era, and party politics in the South.

The lecture is sponsored by the Auburn University History Department, AU Libraries, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, and the AU Bookstore. A reception will follow the program, and copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. For more information on the program, contact the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center at 334-844-4946.

Dr. Angela Lakwete, associate professor of history at Auburn University and author of Inventing the Cotton Gin: Machine and Myth in Antebellum America, will speak on Tuesday, February 12, 2008, at 3 p.m. in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

In Inventing the Cotton Gin, Lakwete explores the myths surrounding Eli Whitney’s cotton gin and shows that gins existed for centuries before his 1794 invention. “Lakwete’s compelling and revisionist book on the cotton gin is a major contribution to the history of Southern technology,” notes Pete Daniel of the National Museum of American History. Inventing the Cotton Gin won the prestigious Edelstein Prize from the Society of the History of Technology in 2004.

The Discover Auburn series is co-sponsored by the Auburn University Libraries, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and the Auburn University Bookstore. This semester’s series will conclude on April 16 with Dr. Tim Dodge on “The Influence of Gospel Music on Early Rock 'n' Roll.”

A reception will follow the program, and copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. For more information on the program and the series, contact the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center at 334-844-4946.

January 17. 2008

Dr. Larry G. Gerber, professor of history at Auburn University and author of The Irony of State Intervention: American Industrial Relations Policy in Comparative Perspective, 1914-1939, will speak on Thursday, January 17, 2008, at 3 p.m. in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

“An important and unduplicated contribution to the historical literature on U.S. industrial relations,” according to one reviewer, The Irony of State Intervention compares the labor histories of Great Britain and the United States between World War I and the Great Depression and argues that in the development of industrial relations policies, ideology was secondary to economic realities.

Gerber’s lecture is the first spring semester lecture in the Discover Auburn lecture series.

The series is co-sponsored by the Auburn University Libraries, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and the Auburn University Bookstore. Other “Discover Auburn” programs scheduled for the semester include Angela Lakwete on “Inventing the Cotton Gin: Alabama Perspectives” on Feb. 12 and Tim Dodge on “The Influence of Gospel Music on Early Rock 'n' Roll” on April 16.

A reception will follow the program, and copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. For more information on the program and the series, contact the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center at 334-844-4946.

January 14, 2008

Dr. David Carter, associate professor of history at Auburn University, will speak on President Lyndon Baines Johnson and the civil rights movement on Monday, Jan. 14, at 3 p.m. in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

The lecture is a part of AU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Week activities, a series of events and programs held January 13-23, 2008, to pay tribute to and explore Dr. King's legacy of leadership and service.

In addition to essays and articles on grassroots civil rights movements in North Carolina and Mississippi and on noted activists Andrew Young and Julian Bond, Dr. Carter is the author of a forthcoming study from the University of North Carolina Press examining shifting relationships between the presidency of Lyndon Johnson and the civil rights movement in the three years following passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

The lecture is sponsored by Auburn University Libraries and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts. A reception will follow the program. For more information on the program, contact the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center at 334-844-4946.

Auburn University will hold a memorial service at 4 p.m. Nov. 28 in the University Chapel for W. David Lewis, Distinguished University Professor, who died Sept. 28. Lewis served for 35 years in Auburn University's Department of History, where he founded an internationally recognized program in the history of technology. In 2005 the Johns Hopkins University Press published his most recent book, "Eddie Rickenbacker: An American Hero in the Twentieth Century." Lewis played the leading role in building the Auburn University Libraries' history of flight collection.

Jimmy Carter Legacy Discussed by Writer Gaillard

November 14, 2007
On November 14 at 3 p.m. in the Auburn University Draughon Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department, author Frye Gaillard will discuss his new book, Prophet From Plains: Jimmy Carter and His Legacy.

Gaillard, author of more than a dozen books on subjects ranging from civil rights to southern music, first profiled the former president for the Charlotte Observer in the mid -1980s. Expanding his research to survey Carter’s role on the national and global stage in his post-presidency years, his new book interprets the former president’s life and work.

Praised for its insight and honesty, Prophet from Plains has been described as a “warts and all portrait of a politician who still stirs strong feelings among his detractors as well as adulation among his supporters.”

Dr. David Carter of the Auburn University Department of History wrote the introduction for Prophet from Plains and will speak at the program on the 14th.

The program is co-sponsored by the Auburn University Libraries, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and the Auburn University Bookstore. AU History department chair Dr. Tony Carey will introduce the speakers and moderate discussion.

Copies of Prophet from Plains will be available for purchase and signing. Refreshments will be served following the program. For more information please call 334-844-4946 or go to www.auburn.edu/cah.

September 22, 2007

A reception to honor Joseph Kicklighter, professor of History and History Department undergraduate program officer in the College of Liberal Arts, is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 22, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alumni Center. Kicklighter has been teaching at Auburn since 1975. All alumni, faculty and staff are invited to attend to honor Kicklighter and support the Dr. Joseph Kicklighter Endowed Professorship in History. The endowment was established in 2006 to ensure that future generations of AU students experience the ideals of student service and a passion for learning that Kicklighter embodies. For more information, contact Olivia Davis at 844-1483 or oad0001@auburn.edu.

September 17, 2007

Auburn University will recognize Constitution Day on Monday, Sep. 17 at 4:00 p.m. with a lecture by Jeremy Black titled “Framing the New Nation: Responding to the International Challenge, 1775 to 1815,” in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

Jeremy Black, professor of history at the University of Exeter in England, is an expert on post-1500 military history, 18th-century British history and international relations. Professor Black is a prolific author whose books include “War: Past, Present, and Future” (2000), “War in the New Century” (2001), “America as a Military Power, 1775-1882” (2002), “The British Seaborne Empire” (2004), and “Rethinking Military History” (2004).

His latest book, “George III: America’s Last King,” is a comprehensive biography of King George, as one reviewer notes “a literate and carefully crafted portrait of the well-intentioned man who was our last sovereign ruler.” Refreshments will follow the lecture, and copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Black will also visit a number of classes and be available to students during his visit.

On September 17, 1787, the Constitutional Congress held its final meeting to sign the Constitution of the United State of America. A law sponsored by Senator Robert Byrd (D-WVA) requires schools receiving federal funds and all federal agencies to conduct educational events about the Constitution on or about September 17.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Auburn University Office of the Provost, AU History Department, Army ROTC Department, Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, AU Libraries, and the AU Bookstore. For more information, call 334-844-4948.