Feature Channels: History

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Anesthesia was in its infancy when the American Civil War began. Using case studies of two wounded soldiers, a private and a general, a UAB anesthesiologist reports on its early use. “As we honor the sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the Civil War, it is still widely believed that the sole anesthetic agent used was the whiskey bottle,” said Maurice S. Albin, M.D., professor in the UAB Department of Anesthesiology. “But sulfuric ether was first used in 1846, and chloroform a year later.”

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The legacy of dynamic urban school reformer Marcus Foster is a message of how education and community need to work together. Foster, superintendent of the Oakland, Calif., schools in the early 1970s, and a product of Philadelphia schools as a student, teacher, principal, and administrator, was assassinated Nov. 6, 1973 by the Symbionese Liberation Army. The book, "In the Crossfire: Marcus Foster and the Troubled History of American School Reform" (University of Pennsylvania Press 2012) by John P. Spencer, associate professor of education at Ursinus College, brings to light Foster’s achievements and relates them to current issues in school reform.

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Fifty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the medical and scientific evidence may support the possibility of the "single shooter, three bullet theory" of the event. Yet new insights into the old medical data simultaneously suggest there may have been multiple shooters, according to a special article by Dr. Rod J. Rohrich, Editor-in-Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, broke the hearts of Americans across the nation. As the 50th anniversary of the death of one of America’s most charismatic leaders approaches, scholars at the University of California, Riverside are available to discuss the importance of charisma in politics, JFK’s popularity with American poets, and his continuing role as a source of inspiration for playwrights and the arts in general.

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Nearly 50 years ago, Harold Franklin arrived on campus to register for classes in the graduate school and became the first African-American student to enroll at Auburn University. Other young men and women soon followed. Over the next 14 months, Auburn is celebrating these and other individuals who were involved in the integration of the university through a yearlong commemoration that includes performances, programs, lectures and other events that organizers say offer something of interest to everyone.

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As scores of Americans enter the darkened realms of haunted houses, nighttime hayrides and horror film marathons, monsters, ghosts and pop-culture goblins wait to give them a scare. A popular Halloween tradition, these dramatized attractions, coupled with costumes, trick-or-treat candy and festive decorations added up to an estimated $7 billion in 2011. While it may seem odd to celebrate a night of fright with so much enthusiasm, confronting what scares us isn’t a new phenomenon, says Paul J. Patterson, Ph.D., assistant professor of English at Saint Joseph’s University.

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A University of Iowa law professor researches freedom suits, legal actions largely lost to history that were brought by slaves against their masters in hopes of gaining their freedom.

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“It’s foreign to our thinking that water wouldn’t simply come out of the pipes,” said John Broich, Case Western Reserve University historian. His new book London, Water and the Making of the Modern City (University of Pittsburgh Press), chronicles the struggles.

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Lauren Hackworth Petersen, an associate professor of art history at the University of Delaware, is exploring new approaches, drawing on literature, law, art and other material evidence, to bring the lives of Pompeii’s slaves out of the shadows.

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Coverage of the March on Washington anniversary by PBS and NBC News will include a documentary produced by an Ithaca College faculty member and interviews conducted by Ithaca College students.

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Hamilton College Professor of Government Philip Klinkner is the co-author of The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of America's Commitment to Racial Equality, which received the 2000 Horace Mann Bond Book Award from Harvard University’s Afro-American Studies Department and W.E.B DuBois Institute. In this opinion piece, Klinkner focuses on white America’s fears and need for social stability, rather than a commitment to higher moral ground, as the motivation for support of civil rights for black America.

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On August 28, citizens from across the country will converge on our nation’s capital to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. President Obama will honor the anniversary of the famous civil rights march by speaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the same place that Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Experts at Drexel University in Philadelphia are available to assist the news media with their coverage of the event and its implications from a variety of perspectives.

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UT English Professor confirms Shakespeare authored 325 additional lines in "The Spanish Tragedy."

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A gleaming wooden Adirondack guide boat, made from pine and cherry, and sporting original cane seats and graceful oars along with a history that dates to Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, is again gliding through the waters of the Central Adirondacks where it was crafted at the turn of the 20th century. The Beaver returned to Newcomb this summer after an absence of more than 70 years.

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Using advanced analysis of DNA from Y chromosomes from men all over the world, scientists have shed new light on the mystery of when and how a few early human ancestors started to give rise to the incredible diversity of today’s population.

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According to a recent study conducted at the University of Haifa and Leiden University that examined over 55-thousand Polish Jews who immigrated to Israel before and after World War II. “These results give us hope and teach us of the strength and resilience of the human spirit”, said Prof. Avi Sagi-Schwartz, who led the research

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A science team that includes researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has linked increasing oxygen levels and the rise and evolution of carnivores (meat eaters) as the force behind a broad explosion of animal species and body structures millions of years ago.

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Documents and artifacts from Richard J. Daley’s six terms as mayor of Chicago will be available for review by researchers and the public beginning July 25 with the opening of the Richard J. Daley Collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Archaeologists tunneling beneath the main temple of the ancient Maya city of El Perú-Waka’ in Guatemala have discovered a stone monument with hieroglyphic text detailing the exploits of a little-known sixth-century princess whose progeny prevailed in a bloody struggle between two of the civilization’s most powerful royal dynasties.

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The modern custom of laying flowers in graves or using them for funerals dates back to as early as 13,700 years ago, to our Natufian ancestors living in Mt. Carmel. “Even back then, the Natufians had burial rituals much similar to ours, nowadays”, said Prof. Dani Nadel, from the University of Haifa, who led the excavations.

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No Independence Day celebration would be complete without a picnic table filled with some traditional favorites: hamburgers, hotdogs, buns, kabobs, potato salad, ketchup and watermelon. Where did these July Fourth foods come from? Archaeologists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History explain where and how it all began.

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For reporters and editors seeking authoritative commentary on South Africa.

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Gettysburg College prof. finds a usable past in Civil War history.

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After noticing the many abandoned or converted gasoline stations on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, a Salisbury University student began research with his professor that discerned changing patterns about life on Delmarva. Southeastern Geographer journal recently published their work.

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As the nation approaches the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, resources are available to help in analyzing the impact of the battle and the Civil War on the United States, both then and now.