Special thanks to Molly Buffington, University of Alabama History major and Communications Committee intern, for taking many wonderful photographs at Monday night’s digital installation and book reading. I have taken to calling it the “Aug. 29 event.” Over the past month, I saved various digital files with that label on it. In truth, the spirit… Continue reading Photographs from Aug. 29 event
Last night’s event at Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center was wonderful even with all of the technology hiccups in the digital art installation. The highlight was sharing the playlist mix curated by students enrolled in my “Bebop to Hip Hop: Young America and Music” class. The actual mix, which narrates their own hypothetical road trip… Continue reading puttin’ it all in our rearview
In a little under an hour, I head to the second meeting for my “Bebop to Hip Hop: Young America and Music” class. This year, it’s a lecture. That means the performance part of teaching had better be thoughtfully presented. Or maybe I just want to survive the moment. We’re discussing technology in the postwar… Continue reading interview about Bebop to Hip Hop course
Yesterday was the first day of class for the 2016-17 school year and I am already pleased. The students enrolled in the “American Civilization to 1865” survey showed up ready to learn and contribute. So did the students enrolled in “Bebop to Hip Hop: Young America and Music,” an upper level course. In fact, the… Continue reading Students make amazing playlist
I am sharing a link to a video Mike Hill, the earlier mentioned art collector and university administrator, made for his upcoming vernacular art exhibition. In it, he discusses the work of several people, among them Purvis Young, the late artist from Miami’s Overtown community. Hill describes the apparent response of Young, an African American… Continue reading African American artist helps tell postwar urban story
One of the great things about being in the academy is reconnecting with friends you met in graduate school. I have had this feeling lately owing to my renewed contact with author Kalisha Buckhanon. She recently interviewed me about my book Remember Me to Miss Louisa: Hidden Black-White Intimacies in Antebellum America (Northern Illinous University… Continue reading thank you, Kalisha
Chris Rock got a bit repetitive. I had to put the Oscars on mute every now and then to flip teach. This is as good a time as any to flip it, or get students in my my “Bebop to Hip Hop: Young America and Music” undergraduate class to start learning before class begins.… Continue reading an oscar pause
Even though I can’t dance, and know I’m getting old because my students have to tell me everything that is hip, videos like the one at the top of this entry remind me of some of the things I love about my job: you may not think the students are paying attention, but they are.… Continue reading why i teach
Here is a Youtube clip featuring a zine revealing the connections some of my students made between a turn-of-the-century scrapbook kept by a young Bessemer, Alabama, woman, their own lives and the antebellum period. So much of the material before us emerged as being a “coming of age” moment. It was a pleasure teaching this group.
Students enrolled in my “Antebellum America” course had an unexpected break. A guest speaker had a bad cold. As I had not prepared an extra lecture to fill in the time (the hazards of a new class when you are often only a page ahead of the students), I thought we’d take advantage of the… Continue reading water matters
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