About Me
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I have moved around the country, spending most of my time in the Midwest and the South. My father took my mother, two brothers and I to battlefields, museums, and other historic sites, especially during our brief stay in Virginia.
In 2009, I graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in History. Then, I pursued my M.A. in American History at the University of Maryland. After graduating in 2011, I shifted my focus away from Early America toward the Jim Crow South, so I moved to Tuscaloosa and began my doctoral studies. |
During my time in Tuscaloosa, I developed an appreciation for barbecue and had the opportunity to write about it. For five years, I lived close enough to Archibald's BBQ to smell it. Tuscaloosa smells better than any other city. At every major intersection, a barbecue joint sends the scent of hickory and pork into the air. In 2014, I worked with Josh Rothman and John T. Edge to produce an essay on Alabama barbecue. The Southern Foodways Alliance hosts the article, now titled "Pork Ribs and Politics: The Origins of Alabama Barbecue," on their website. I am also one of only two people who successfully blind tasted and named that Alabama barbecue.
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In 2016, I graduated from the University of Alabama with my Ph.D. in American History. I wrote my dissertation titled "'The Best Notes Made the Most Votes': Race, Politics, and Spectacle in the Post-Reconstruction South, 1877-1932." In it, I explain how African Americans participated in politics despite lacking the right to vote. They showed up at political rallies. There, they honored or harassed politicians with music and street theater. I have published portions of this dissertation as articles on Southern Cultures and Louisiana History. I currently have a contract to publish a book on this subject with University Press of Mississippi.
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Currently, I am a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. I teach the U. S. History to 1865 Survey, Research and Writing in History, and a senior-level seminar Food and Southern History. Previously, I taught at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
I spend my weeks in Chattanooga, but I return home to Knoxville with my wife, Kate, and our two cats, Peri and Remy. |