CURRICULUM VITAE

MELTON A. McLAURIN

UNC Wilmington

Emeritus Professor of History

 

 

I.  BIOGRAPHICAL

Name: McLaurin, Melton Alonza

Address: 204 Oyster Bay Lane

   Wilmington, N.C. 28409

Phone: Home:   (910) 392-0395       Cell:  (910) 200-8821   

e-mail: mmclaurinm@ec.rr.com

Wife: Sandra Cockrell

Children: Natasha, Nicole, and Megan

Education: BS and MA, East Carolina University (1962, 1964)

MA Thesis:  The North Carolina State Fair, 1853-1899

Ph.D., University of South Carolina (1967)

Ph.D. Dissertation:  The Southern Cotton Textile Operative and Organized Labor, 1880-1905

 

 

II.  PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION, GRADUATE LEVEL

Major Field: United States History, with emphasis on:

The American South                                         Race Relations

The Populist-Progressive era                 Labor History

Minor Fields: Modern Europe and Latin America

Cognate Field: American Literature, with an emphasis on the literature of the late 19th

 and early 20th centuries

 

 

III. TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Professor Emeritus of History, UNCW, 2004-

Professor of History: History Department, UNCW, 1977-2004

Professor of History: University of South Alabama, 1976-1977, Associate Professor: 1971-1975

Assistant Professor: 1967-1971

Instructor: Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Summer, 1969; University of South Carolina, College

 of General Studies, 1966-1967; Newberry College, Summers of 1965 and 1966;

Undergraduate Courses Taught: U.S. Survey, The Populist-Progressive Era,

Old American South, New American South, African-American History,

19th Century U.S. Seminar, U. S. Since 1945, Thesis Seminar

Graduate Seminars Taught: The Civil Rights Revolution, The Populists Movement,

           The 1890s, The Segregated South through Autobiography, American Autobiography

 

                                             

 IV.  PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS:

The Marines of Montford Point; America’s First Black Marines  (University of North Carolina

             Press, 2007)

The North Carolina State Fair, the First 150 Years.  (North Carolina Office

 of Archives and History, 2003)

You Wrote My Life: Lyrical Themes in Country Music.   Co-edited with Richard Peterson.

 (Gordon and Breach, Science Publishers, 1992)

Celia, A Slave.  (University of Georgia Press, 1991).  New York Times notable book, 1991;

Southern Book Award, 1992; Alternate selection, Quality Paperback Book

Club, 1992; Trade paperback issue by Avon Books, 1993, Film rights purchased by

20th Century Fox, 1994.

Separate Pasts: Growing Up White in the Segregated South.

(University of Georgia Press, 1987)  Paperback issue, 1989, 2nd edition, 1998.

Received the Lillian Smith Award for Non-fiction, presented by

the Southern Regional Council, 1988.  Gustavus Meyers Center's

selection as one of the outstanding works on the subject of

intolerance published in 1987.

Mobile, The Life & Times of a Great Southern City.  (Windsor Press, 1981)

The Image of Progress: Alabama Photographs, 1877-1917.  (University

of Alabama Press, 1980)  Selected by the U.S. State Department

for exhibit in the Soviet Union, 1982.

Knights of Labor in the South.  (Greenwood Press, 1978)

Paternalism and Protest; Southern Cotton Mill Workers and

Organized Labor, 1875-1905.  (Greenwood Publishers, 1971)

 

VIDEO PRODUCTIONS

Writer/director of The Marines Of Montford Point, Fighting for Freedom, a hour long television

 documentary narrated by Louis Gossett, Jr., produced by University of North Carolina

Wilmington Television, 2006.

 

ESSAYS IN EDITED COLLECTIONS:

“Celia: Slavery and Sexual Exploitation,” in True Stories from the American Past, Vol. I, Altina

Waller and William Graebner, eds. (New York:  McGraw Hill Companies, Inc., 1997).

"Songs of the South: The Changing Image of the South and Country Music,"

in You Wrote My Life:  Lyrical Themes in Country Music, Melton McLaurin

and Richard Peterson, co-eds. (Philadelphia:  Gordon and Breach,

Publishers, 1992).

"Proud to Be an American: Patriotism in Country Music," in America's Musical Pulse:

Popular Music in Twentieth Century Society, Kenneth J. Bindas, ed.  (Westport,

Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1992).

"Southern Autobiography and the Problem of Race," in Looking

South:  Chapters in the Story of an American Region, Winfred B.

Moore, Jr. and Joseph F. Tripp, eds. (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989).

"Country Music and the Vietnam War," in Perspectives on the

American South, Vol. III, James Cobb and Charles Wilson, eds.

(Gordon and Breach, Publishers, 1985)

"Knights of Labor: Internal Dissension in the Southern Order," in

Essays in Southern Labor History, Gary Fink and Merl Reed,

eds. (Greenwood Press, 1977).

 

ARTICLES:

“Commemorating Wilmington’s Racial Violence of 1898; From Individual to Collective

 Memory,” Southern Cultures, 6 (Winter, 2000), 35-57.

“Public Perception of the Past in the American South: A Paradigm Shift,” American Studies

Journal, published by the Center for U. S. Studies at the Stiftung Leucorea, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Number 45 (Summer, 2000), 18-25.

"Rituals of Initiation and Rebellion: Adolescent Responses to Segregation in Southern

Autobiography,” Southern Cultures, 3 (Summer, 1997) 5-24.

"Divine Convictions: The Tale of an African American Trickster in

Victorian Britain,” Gateway Heritage, Quarterly Magazine of the Missouri

Historical Society, 15 (Winter, 1994-95), 4-17.

"Southern History through Photographs: Problems and Promises",

Institute News, Newsletter of the South Carolina Institute of

Applied History, 3 (March, 1984) 5-9.

"The Nineteenth-Century North Carolina State Fair as a Social

Institution," N.C. Historical Review, 59 (July, 1982), 213-29.

"The Knights of Labor and Southern Blacks," Labor History (Fall,

1976) 568-585.

"Worth a Thousand Words," Southern Exposure (Fall, 1976) 60-69, a

visual essay on labor history.

"Mobile Blacks and World War II: The Development of a Political

Consciousness," Proceedings of the Gulf Coast History and

Humanities Conference, Vol. iv (1973).

"The Knights of Labor in N. C. Politics," N.C. Historical Review,

49 (Summer, 1972), 298-315.

"Early Labor Organizational Activity in South Carolina Cotton Mills,

South Carolina Historical Magazine, 52 (Jan, 1971, 44--59.

"The Image of the Negro in Deep South Public School State History

Texts," Phylon, 32 (Fall, 1971), 237-46.

 

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES:

"Knights of Labor," Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (Chapel Hill: 

University of North Carolina Press, 1989)

Articles on William McKinley Administration, Paul Buck, and

Broadus Mitchell in the Encyclopedia of Southern History

(Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1979).

 

 

REVIEWS IN:

American Historical Review           Journal of American History        Journal of Southern History

History; Reviews of New Books      International History Review       Labor History                          Southern Cultures                          Business History Review               American Quarterly                     N.C. Historical Review                  Georgia Historical Quarterly        Alabama Review       

S.C. Historical Magazine              Arkansas Historical Quarterly      Atlanta History                                Mississippi Quarterly                           Gulf Coast Historical Review        Raleigh News and Observer    

Washington Post                           Atlanta Journal-Constitution       

 

 

 V.  PAPERS AND COMMENTARIES    

 PAPERS, ACADEMIC:

“Integrating the Corps: Montford Point Marines Tell Their Story,  Wake Forest University,

 February 2003.  By invitation.

“The Marines of Montford Point:  The Corps Meets the FEPC,” Historical Society of North

 Carolina, October 2001.

Public Memory, Public Money, and Race in the American South,” University of Stellenbosch,
 Republic of South Africa, September 2001.  By invitation.

“The Minor Key: Class in Post-World War II Southern Autobiography,” The Citadel

 Conference on the South, Charleston, SC, April 2000.

“Common Culture, Separate Boxes: Daily Life in the Segregated South,” Chowan College,

 November 1999.  By invitation.

“From Individual to Collective Memory: Commemorating Wilmington’s Racial Violence of

 1898,” Southern American Studies Association, February 1999.

“The Second Reconstruction, Unintended Consequences, and the American South,” The Senior

Seminar, Foreign Service Institute, U. S. Department of State, Arlington, Va.,

April 1997.  By invitation.

"Rituals of Initiation and Rebellion: Adolescent Responses to Segregation in Southern

Autobiography," American Culture Association of the South, Savannah, April 1996.

"Slavery and the Problem of Evidence," Southern Historical Association, November 1993.

"Slavery, Gender, and Community: Linda Brent and Celia, a Slave," Smithsonian Institution,

Center for African American Studies, Washington, D. C., September 1993.  By invitation.

"Race, Gender and Violence, the Case of Celia, a Slave," Organization of American Historians,

 April 1993.

"An African American Religious Charlatan in Victorian Britain," Joint meeting of the

North American Conference on British Studies and the Western Conference

on British Studies, October 1992.

"David Augustus Nero: Black Trickster in Nineteenth Century Great Britain,” Institute for

Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, May 1990

 "Race and Class in Twentieth Century Southern Autobiography,"

Given by invitation at University of Warwick, Coventry, England;

Swansea College, the University of Wales; and Lancashire

Polytechnic Institute, Preston, England, April 1990.

"Growing Up Southern; Autobiographies of Childhood," Historical

Society of North Carolina, March 1988.

"Slavery as Moral Dilemma, The Case of Celia," Southern Historical

Association, November 1987.

"Southern Autobiography and the Problem of Race," The Fifth Citadel

Conference on the South, April 1987.

"I'm Just a Common Man; Class Consciousness in Country Music," Third

Annual Conference On Country Music, Meridian, Mississippi, 1986.

"The Changing Image of the South in Country Music," The Fourth Citadel

Conference on the South, April 1985.

"From Field Hands to Mill Hands: Working Carolinians,” Prepared for

the N. C. Coordinating Committee for the Advancement of History

under a N. C. Humanities Council grant, 1983.

"Southern History through Photographs: Problems and Promises,"

Institute for Southern Studies, University of South Carolina, 1983.  By Invitation.

"The Late 19th Century N. C. Industrial Work Force," Rembert Patrick

Lecture, Guilford College, March 1983. By Invitation.

"Country Music and the Vietnam War," Southern Popular Culture Association, October 1980.

"Southern Labor Force of the Late 19th Century," Southern Historical Association,

November 1977.

"Internal Dissension in the Southern Knights of Labor," Southern Labor

History Conference, Atlanta, April 1976.

"A Slightly Different Vision, Southern Knights of Labor View the New

South," American Historical Association, 1975.

"Ante-Bellum Mobile as Travelers Saw It," Alabama Historical Association, 1975.

"Mobile Blacks and World War II: The Development of a Political

Consciousness," Gulf Coast History and Humanities Conference, 1972.

"The Knights of Labor in North Carolina Politics," Southern Historical Association, 1970.

"Images of the Negro in Deep South Public School State History Text,"

Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, 1969.

 

PAPERS, ADMINISTRATIVE:

“Planning an International Degree Program,” Southern Association of Colleges and Schools,

 December 2001.

“Web-Based Course Development Strategies,” North Carolina Forum on Distance Education,

 March 1999.

 

COMMENTARIES:

Comments at paper sessions on the South, race relations, or labor at the following

        professional organizations:

 American Historical Association                       Organization of American Historians

 Southern Historical Association                        American Society for Ethnohistory

 Southern Conference on Labor History            Southern Conference on Women's History

 Citadel Conference on the South                      Association of Historians in North Carolina

Alabama Historical Association

 

 

VI.  CURRENT  RESEARCH

Autobiographies of Southerners

 

 

VII.  MANUSCRIPT AND PROJECT EVALUATIONS 

American Historical Review       Journal of American History       Journal of Southern History   

American Quarterly    North Carolina Historical Review          

Gateway Heritage      Southern Cultures     Gulf Coast Historical Review

Duke University Press   University of North Carolina Press    University of Georgia Press    University of Tennessee Press   University of Mississippi Press      University of Alabama Press        Blair Publishers        Macmillan/McGraw-Hill      Prentice Hall     D. C. Heath      

West Educational Publishing        Windsor Press        

Annenberg Foundation/Corporation for Public Broadcasting Project

National Endowment for the Humanities (Research and Media)

 

 

VIII.  GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND AWARDS

Randall Library Scholar, UNC Wilmington, 2004-2006

Distinguished Teaching Professorship, UNC Wilmington, 1995-99

North Carolina Humanities Council grant for symposium, “Wilmington’s Racial Violence of

1898 and Its Legacy,” Fall,1998.

Fellow, David Bruce Centre for American Studies, Keele University, England, Spring, 1998

NEH grant to direct Summer Seminar for School Teachers on the topic

"The Twentieth Century South through Autobiography," Summer, 1993, 1995, and 1997

University of North Carolina Board of Governors Distinguished Teaching Award, 1996

Chancellor's Teaching Excellence Award, UNC Wilmington, 1994

Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities,

University of Edinburgh, Spring, 1990.  Topic:  "David Augustus

Nero and African Missions."

NEH Summer Seminar, 1983.  "Continuity and Change in Southern

Culture," under John Shelton Reed, University of North Carolina.

Consultant on North Carolina Humanities Council

grant to create Photo Exhibits on Wilmington, N.C., 1865-1945, 1980.

North Carolina Humanities Council grant for a television

series "Southern Values in Transition," 1978-1979.

NEH Summer Seminar, 1977.  "Slavery, Secession, and the Civil War"

under Dr. Bell I. Wiley, Emory University.

Consultant on Alabama Committee for the Humanities grant to create Photo

Exhibit on Alabama, 1877-1917, 1977.

University of South Alabama research grants to support work on the

Knights of Labor and a Photographic History of Alabama, 1877-1917.

1969, 1970, and 1976.

Alabama Committee for the Humanities grant for research in visual and written materials.

  Project Title: "Mobile, the Impact of Economic Development," 1972

 

 

 IX.  ORGANIZATIONAL   MEMBERSHIPS

Southern Historical Association             Historical Society of North Carolina         

St. George Tucker Society                                Phi Alpha Theta                 

 

 

X.  ADMINISTRATIVE   EXPERIENCE

Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Programs and Policies, UNCW, 1996-2003

(Major responsibilities assigned included supervision of the Directors of the following offices: Distance Education; International Programs; Honors Program; Diversity Issues; and Faculty Development Programs, including the Center for Teaching Excellence, Post-Tenure Review, and Phased Retirement.  I also served from 1996 to 2002 as the university liaison officer to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.)

Member, Southern Historical Association Executive Committee, 2000-02

Member, University of North Carolina system Faculty Worklife Committee, 2001-04

Member, North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Advisory Committee, 2002-06

President, Historical Society of North Carolina, 2000-01

Member, UNCW Steering Committee for Southern Association of Colleges and

Schools Self-Study, 1999-2002

Member, University of North Carolina system Intercampus Networking Project Advisory

            Committee, 1999-2001

Member, University of N. C. system Committee on Distance Education, 1997-2002

Member, University of N. C. system Committee on Planning and Performance Based Budgeting, 

1996-2002

Member, University Planning Council, UNCW, 1991-94, 1996-2002

(Member, Planning Council Steering Committee, 1992-94)

UNCW liaison officer to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, 1996-2002

Member, UNCW Chancellor’s Steering Committee on Information Technology, 1998-99

Member, University of N. C. system Committee on Post-Tenure Review, 1996-99

Member, North Carolina Humanities Council, 1989-96

(Chairman, 1994-96, Vice-Chairman, 1992-94, Executive Committee Member, 1990-96)

Editor, North Carolina Humanities, 1993-1996

Chairman, Department of History, UNCW, 1977-91

Development and implementation of Master’s Degree in History

Development and implementation of undergraduate Program in Applied History

Revision of undergraduate curriculum to include Asian

and African history and expanded social history course offerings

Funding obtained for five undergraduate scholarships for $2,500 per academic year

Funding obtained for departmental faculty Research and Development Awards

Chairman, UNCW Steering Committee for Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Institutional Self Study, 1980-82.

Chairman, Sub-committee on Planning and Evaluation for Southern

Association of Colleges and Schools Institutional Self Study, 1990-92.

Member, Graduate Council of the University of N. C. system, 1991-92

Member, Faculty Senate, UNCW, 1977-80, 1991-95

(Member, Senate Steering Committee, 1992-95)

Member, Graduate Administrative Board, UNCW, 1979-81, 1982-83

Member, Board of Directors, Poplar Grove Plantation, 1987-91

Member, Academic Advisory Council, N. C. Poverty Project, 1987-89

Member, Board of Directors, Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, 1983-86

Acting Chairman, Department of History, University of South Alabama,

Summer, 1974 and Summer, 1976

Member, Graduate Council, University of South Alabama, 1976-77

Member, Faculty Senate, University of South Alabama, 1976-77

Member, Mobile Bicentennial Commission, 1974-76