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Experienced and Award-Winning Educator, Author, and Historian with Expertise in High School and College Classroom Instruction, Historic Site Tours, Collaborations with Museums, and History Teacher Training

EDUCATION

University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, MA, History

University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, MD, MA, Philosophy

William Paterson College of New Jersey, Wayne, NJ, BA, Philosophy and History

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Professional Speaker, Freelance, Boston, MA, 2019—Present

Holds virtual seminars for students grades 6-12 in the United States, Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands to discuss the ongoing debate about monuments in public spaces; Introduces primary sources and leads discussions about why monuments become controversial and possible solutions
Works with k-12 history educators on classroom strategies focused on the history and current controversy surrounding monuments and the broader public debate about the 1619 Project, Critical Race Theory, and the history of race and slavery in the United States
Speaker at Boston Biotech and Research Organizations on the History of Race in America

Historian and Master Teacher, Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., 2018—Present

Helps organize curriculum for summer professional development for 40 history educators
Leads tours of historic sites in the Washington, D.C. area related to the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction
Lectures on controversy surrounding Civil War monuments
Introduces primary sources for classroom use

Instructor of History, Gann Academy, Waltham, MA, 2013-2020

Visiting Instructor of American Studies, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA, 2015

Instructor of History, St. Anne’s—Belfield School, Charlottesville, VA, 2000-2011

Instructor of Philosophy, Alabama School of Mathematics & Science, Mobile, AL, 1998-2000

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Searching For Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth, (University of North Carolina Press, 2019).

Winner: Eugene Feit Award for Excellence in Civil War Scholaship, New York Military Affairs Symposium

Remembering the Battle of the Crater: War as Murder, (University Press of Kentucky, 2012).
(In Progress) A Glorious Fate: The Life and Legacy of Col. Robert Gould Shaw. Under advance contract with the University of North Carolina Press.
(In Progress) From Diehard Rebel to Confederate Scalawag: The Letters of Captain John Christopher Winsmith, 1861-1877. Book proposal under review.

Edited Collections

Interpreting the Civil War at Museums and Historic Sites (Rowman and Littlefield Press [Interpreting History Series], 2017).
“The Civil War at 150: Memory and Meaning,” co-edited with Megan Kate Nelson, Common-Place [(Winter 2014) [https://commonplace.online/topic/civil-war-at-150/].

Book Chapters

“‘10,000 Slaves in Lee’s Army’: The Black Confederate Myth and Civil War Memory in the Trump Era,” in Jennifer Murray and John Kinder, eds., Civil War Memories in a Polarized America (University of Nebraska Press, 2024).
“Violence and Forgetting in the Crater,” in Jon Tracey and Chris Macksowski eds, The Civil War and Pop Culture (Savas Beatie, 2023): 108-14.
“‘They Met Their Fate Without a Sigh’: An Analysis of Confederate Military Executions,” in Andrew F. Lang and Andrew Bledsoe, eds., Upon the Fields of Battle: Essays on the Military History of America’s Civil War (Louisiana State University Press, 2018): 205-26.
“The Devil Himself Could Not Have Checked Them’: Fighting with Black Soldiers at the Crater,” in Gary W. Gallagher and Caroline Janney eds., Cold Harbor to the Crater: The End of the Overland Campaign (University of North Carolina Press, 2015): 264-82.
“The Best Servant By Far,” in Ted Widmer ed., Disunion: Modern Scholars and Historians Revisit and Reconsider the Civil War from Fort Sumter to the Emancipation Proclamation (Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, 2013), 411-15.
“‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’: The Demobilization of Lee’s Army,” in William C. Davis and James I. Robertson eds., Virginia at War: 1865, (University Press of Kentucky, 2011): 85-101.
“‘Is There Not Glory Enough To Give Us All a Share?’: An Analysis of Competing Memories of the Battle of the Crater,” in Aaron Sheehan-Dean ed., The View From the Ground: Experiences of Civil War Soldiers, (University Press of Kentucky, 2007), 227-248.

Journal Articles

Co-authored with Beth Parnicza and Emmanuel Dabney, “Interpreting Race, Slavery, and United States Colored Troops at Civil War Battlefields,” Civil War History (June 2016): 131-48.
“Teaching Civil War History: From the Classroom to the Battlefield,” Civil War History, (March 2016): 76-79.
“Black Confederates Out of the Attic and Into the Mainstream,” Journal of the Civil War Era, (December 2014): 627-35.
Lincoln Movie Roundtable Discussion, Civil War History (September 2013): 358-75.
“Using Ken Burn’s The Civil War in the Classroom,” The History Teacher, (November 2010): 9-19.
“The Battle of the Crater, National Reunion, and the Creation of the Petersburg National Military Park, 1864-1937,” in Virginia Social Science Journal 41 (2006): 13-34.
“William Mahone, the Lost Cause, and Civil War History,” in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 113 (2005): 379-412. Winner of the M. E. Rachal Prize for best overall article in 2005.
“‘On That Day You Consummated the Full Measure of Your Fame:’ Confederates Remember the Battle of the Crater, 1864-1903,” in Southern Historian 25 (2004): 18-39.
“‘Our Little Boy Colonel’: An Account of the Life of John Bowie Magruder,” in Magazine of Albemarle County History 60 (2002): 1-46. Winner of the Mary N. Rawlings Prize for best article in 2002.

Magazine Articles

“Removing Confederate Monuments Does Not Erase History,” The Civil War Monitor (Winter 2020): 26-28.
“History in the Digital Age,” The Civil War Monitor (Spring 2020): 30-31, 73.
“Teaching Confederate Monuments as Primary Sources,” Georgia History Today (Spring/Summer 2019): 3-6.
“To Savannah and the Sea,” and “Crossing at Ebenezer Creek,” Cobblestone, (January 2018): 20-33/26-27.
“Confederate Like Me,” The Civil War Monitor (Spring 2013): 60-67.
“Teaching Civil War Mobilization With Film,” Magazine of History (April 2012): 33-36.
Co-authored with Myra Chandler Sampson, “The Loyalty of Silas Chandler,” Civil War Times (February. 2012): 30-34.
“‘Until Every Negro Has Been Slaughtered’: Did Southerners See the Battle of the Crater as a Slave Rebellion?” Civil War Times (October 2010): 32-37.
“Has the Lost Cause Lost?,” Wilson Quarterly (Summer 2010): 7, 10.
Editorial on Confederate History Month in Civil War Times (June 2010): 44.
“Executing Justice,” Civil War Times (April 2010): 46-51.
“‘The Earth Seemed to Tremble’: Confederate Reactions to the Battle of the Crater,” America’s Civil War (May 2006): 22-28.
“Using North and South Magazine in the Classroom,” OAH Magazine of History (May 2005): 54-57.

Book Reviews

Over 50 reviews in: American Nineteenth-Century History, Civil War Book Review, Civil War History, Civil War Monitor, Civil War Times Illustrated, Florida Historical Quarterly, Georgia Historical Quarterly, H-Net, Journal of Southern History, Journal of the Civil War Era, Louisiana History, North and South Magazine, North Carolina Historical Review, Northwest Ohio Quarterly, Ohio Valley History, Pennsylvania History, South Carolina Historical Magazine, Southern Historian, Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Washington Times.

AWARDS & HONORS

Elected to Society of Fellows, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2021-.
Eugene Feit Award for Excellence in Civil War Scholarship, New York Military Affairs Symposium, 2019.
Golden Apple Teaching Award, Better Living Inc., 2008
Cliopatria Award for Best Individual Blog, 2007
M. E. Rachal Award, Virginia Historical Society, 2005
Russell Weigley Award, Society for Military History, 2005
Award for best paper presented at regional meeting, Phi Alpha Theta, Virginia Regional Meeting, 2004
Award for best paper presented at annual meeting, Virginia Social Science Association, 2004
Mary N. Rawlings Prize, Albemarle County Historical Society, 2002

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Advisory Council, Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., 2023-.
Awards Committee, Peter J. Gomes Memorial Book Award, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2023.
Advisory Board, Nau Center for Civil War History at the University of Virginia, 2022-
Consultant, PBS/Finding Your Roots, 2019, 2022.
Fellow, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2021-
Awards Committee, James P. Hanlan Book Award, New England Historical Association, 2021.
Adviser, Atlanta History Center, Exhibit development, 2021.
Adviser, American Civil War Museum, Curriculum development, 2021.
Editorial Advisory Board, Civil War History, 2018-2019.
Board of Directors, National Council for History Education, 2017-2023.
Digital History Advisor for The Civil War Monitor magazine, 2011-present.
Volunteer at Royall House & Slave Quarters, Medford, MA, 2015.
Chair: Committee For the Award for Excellence in Public History, Blue and Gray Education Society and Society For Civil War Historians, 2014.
Writer for Valley Sim Project, Flip Learning, 2011-13.
Commentary for documentary on black Confederates produced and directed by Ken Wyatt, 2010.
Advisory Board, Schlager Group-Milestone Documents Series, 2012.
Awards Committee: Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship, Shepherd University, 2008.
Editorial Advisory Board: Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 2008-10.
Advisory Council: Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, 2007-11.
Consultant: Monticello exhibit, “The Liberty Gallery”, 2006-07.
Board of Directors: Virginia Social Science Association, 2004-2007, Secretary, 2005-06.
Manuscript Reviewer: Johns Hopkins University Press, University of North Carolina Press, Civil War History, Virginia Social Science Journal, Magazine of Albemarle County History, Louisiana History, Louisiana State University Press, University Press of Kentucky, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.

SELECT PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS

“Before Glory: Robert Gould Shaw and the Second Massachusetts Infantry”: (2023) Gettysburg College, Atlanta Civil War Round Table
“Searching for Black Confederates”: (2024) Volunteer State Community College, (2023) Binghamton University, (2021) Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, University of Pennsylvania, Catawba County (NC) Truth & Reconciliation Committee, Norwich University (2020) Filson Historical Society, University of Maryland at College Park, National Civil War Center, Troy University, Flagler College, Louisiana Tech University (2019) Atlanta History Center, Massachusetts Historical Society, National Archives in Washington, D.C., University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Hood College, Virginia Museum of History & Culture, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
“Confederate Monuments and Race in America,” (2023) Springfield Museums (2022) America 250 Commission (2021) Montgomery County (MD) Historical Society, Gallaudet University, Newburyport (MA) Public Library
“The Last Confederate Monuments: The Myths and Lies We Tell About Loyal Slaves and Black Confederates,” Auburn University, June 4, 2019.
“Confederate Monuments in History and Memory,” Georgia Historical Society, June 21, 2017.
“Reconstructing the Myth of the Black Confederate Soldier,” Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, June 22, 2016.
“Remembering Reconstruction,” Lynn Historical Museum, May, 19, 2016.
“Unfurling the History and Memory of the Confederate Battle Flag,” Springfield College, March 30, 2016.
“Searching For Black Confederate Soldiers in History and Memory,” The National Civil War Museum, Harrisburg, PA, September 26, 2015.
“When a Confederate General Brought Reconstruction to Virginia,” Facing History & Ourselves, Boston, MA, September 22, 2015.
“The Flags are Down. Now What? Grappling with Monuments and Iconography,” Participant in Roundtable Discussion, Annual Meeting of American Association of State and Local History, Louisville, KY, September 18, 2015.
“The Battle of the Crater in Memory,” Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, June 2014.
Panelist: “Interpreting Issues of Civil War Memory For the Classroom,” Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, March 15, 2013.
Panel Moderator: “Interpreting United States Colored Troops at Civil War Sites,” Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, March 16, 2013.
“Race, Labor, and Mobilization: Teaching the Civil War Through Film,” Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians, Milwaukee, WI, April 2012.
Panelist on Civil War Sesquicentennial Working Group sponsored by the American Association for State and Local History at the Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians, Milwaukee, WI, April 2012.
“Searching for Black Confederates in History and Memory: The Case of Silas Chandler”, Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Richmond, Virginia, October 2011.
“‘When You’re Black, the Great Battlefield Holds Mixed Messages’: Discussing Race at the Petersburg National Battlefield” Conference on the Civil War Sesquicentennial and Public History at North Carolina State University, March 26, 2011.
“Reflections on the Civil War Sesquicentennial in Virginia” sponsored by the Brunswick County Committee of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, forum with Waite Rawls III and Christie Coleman, October 26, 2010.
“Mahone’s Brigade and the Defense of Petersburg”, The Civil War and American Society Seminar sponsored by Shepherd University and Pamplin Park, June 2010.
“Teaching Ken Burns in the Classroom”, Society for Civil War Historians Biennial Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 2008.
“The Relevance of Lee Today,” University of Virginia Continuing Studies Program sponsored conference on “Lee at 200″ October 31, 2007.
“The Battle of the Crater, William Mahone, and Civil War Memor,” Conference on Civil War Memory, Shepherd University, June 2007.
“Soldiers, Citizens, and Sources: The Uses of Civil War Soldiers in Writing U.S. History” (Roundtable), Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Atlanta, Georgia, January 2007.
“Landscapes and the Lost Cause: An Analysis of the 1903 and 1937 Crater Reenactments,” The Virginia Forum, Winchester, Virginia, March 2006, Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, January 2006.
“‘I Understand Our Men Just Chopped Them To Pieces”: Confederates Remember U. S. Colored Troops at the Crater,” Conference on African Americans in the Civil War, Virginia State University, Petersburg, Virginia, May 2005.

HISTORY EDUCATION PRESENTATIONS

“Civil War Memory: Four Interpretive Traditions,” Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., July 24, 2023.
“Confederate Monuments and Race in America,” Rochambeau, the French International School, Bethesda, Maryland, January 20, 2021.
“Boston’s Civil War and Reconstruction Memory,” Massachusetts Historical Society, August 8, 2019.
“Civil War Monuments and the Legacy of Reconstruction,” Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., July 26, 2019.
Monuments and Memory,” Roundtable Discussion, National Council for History Education, San Antonio, TX, April 19, 2018.
The Myth of the Black Confederate and Social Media,” History Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, October 2, 2018.
“Understanding Confederate Monuments in the Wake of Charlottesville,” Jefferson Heritage Center, Charlottesville, VA, September 21-22, 2018.
“The Contested Landscape of Confederate Monuments,” Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., July 27, 2018.
“The Contested Landscape of Confederate Monuments,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston, MA, July 11, 2018.
“Understanding Confederate Monuments in the Wake of Charlottesville,” Jefferson Heritage Center, Charlottesville, VA, June 11, 2018.
“Frederick Douglass and the Fight for Civil War Memory,” Teacher Workshop, Lynn, MA, June 2, 2018.
“Teaching Reconstruction and Historical Memory,” w/Ford’s Theatre Staff at National Council for History Education, San Antonio, TX, April 21, 2018.
Monuments & Historical Memory,” Teacher Workshop, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA, March 17, 2018.
“Contested Monuments and Contested Civil Spaces in the United States, 1865 to the 21st Century,” Webinar, National Humanities Center, w/Prof. W. Fitzhugh Brundage, February, 28, 2018.
“Understanding Confederate Monuments in the Wake of Charlottesville,” New Trier High Public School, Chicago, Ill, February 1, 2018.
“Monuments & Historical Memory,” Teacher Workshop, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA, December 5, 2017.
“Understanding Confederate Monuments in the Wake of Charlottesville,” Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., July 28, 2017.
“Who Won the Civil War? Who Won the Peace?” Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., July 29, 2016.
“Unfurling the History and Memory of the Confederate Battle Flag,” Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, June 22, 2016.
“Teaching Reconstruction,” Workshop for Lynn Area High School Teachers, May 26, 2016.
“Why Visit Civil War Battlefields?,” Wellesley Middle School, April 6, 2016.
“Appomattox in History and Memory,” Civil War Institute, Gettysburg College, June 21, 2015.
“Remembering and Commemorating Civil War Soldiers,” Framingham History Center, Framingham, MA, July 12013.
“The Other Gettysburg Address: An Introduction to Civil War Memory,” Civil War Institute, Gettysburg College, June 2013.
“Teaching Glory in the Classroom” and “Black Confederates and Digital Media Literacy in the Classroom,” The Richard Bartol, Jr. Educator’s Conference at Gettysburg, National Park Service, July 16, 2012.
“Teaching Civil War Monuments” Civil War Trust Annual Teachers Conference, Charleston, S.C., July 13, 2012.
“Teaching Civil War Film: Where History and Hollywood Intersect” Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians, Milwaukee, WI, April 2012.
“From Civil War to Civil Rights” w/Professor Aaron Sheehan-Dean, West Virginia University [Teaching American History Grant Workshop for teachers from Virginia Beach], January 2012.
“How to Teach the Tough Stuff: The Civil War, Reconstruction, and Historical Memory”, Virginia Beach, Virginia, March 2011.
“From Civil War to Civil Rights” w/Professor Fitzhugh Brundage, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [Teaching American History Grant Workshop for teachers from Virginia Beach], January 2011.
Roundtable Discussion on teaching Civil War history and Social Media, Civil War Preservation Trust Annual Teachers Institute, July 2010.
“Civil War Memory in the Classroom” w/ Professor Robert Kenzer, University of Richmond [Teaching American History Grant Workshop for teachers from Charlotte County, Danville City, Halifax County, and Pittsylvania County Public Schools], February 20, 2009.
“Key Turning Points in the Civil War and Reconstruction” w/ Professor Thavolia Glymph, Duke University, Virginia Beach, Virginia [Teaching American History Grant Workshop], February 26, 2009.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

National Council for History Education, Society of Civil War Historians, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston Athenaeum

last updated, 11/10/23