INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES – The U.S. Library of Congress (USLOC) recently acquired a hand-carved woodblock created by Associate Professor Todd Anderson. The woodblock, which is approximately 2’x3′ in size, was used to create the print “Grinnell Glacier—The Last Glacier”, which is already a part of the USLOC’s collection. “It is an honor to have this woodblock housed and preserved in perpetuity by the USLOC,” Anderson said.
ENGLISH – Professor Susanna Ashton’s new book, A Plausible Man, was favorably reviewed by Melanie Kirkpatrick in the Wall Street Journal. The review lauds the book as “a remarkable piece of historical sleuthing and often a riveting read.”
HISTORY – At Clemson University’s August graduation ceremonies, Dr. Roy Jones and Professor Vernon Burton sponsored posthumous degrees for two extraordinary educators and leaders: Rev. Joseph A. De Laine, Sr. and Mattie Belton De Laine. Rev. De Laine led the brave plaintiffs from Clarendon County to the successful lawsuit Briggs v. Elliot which ended de jure segregation.
On August 23, Burton was one of four historians to file with the Brennan Center an amicus brief before Supreme Court supporting the right of a private cause of action to support section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (No. 24-30115). In September, he was one of five historians to file with the Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington an amicus brief before the Supreme Court on election certification in Georgia. Also this month, he was part of a panel discussing the 1934 textile strike in the South and the murder of seven strikers in Honea Path. Following the second presidential debate on September 10, Burton was on a panel “Historians Weigh In: 2024 US Second Presidential Debate” assessing the candidates’ performances.” On September 13, he keynoted the SC Humanities Festival in North Augusta and spoke on Reconstruction and the Lost Cause mythology in South Carolina.
LANGUAGES – Associate Professor of ASL Jody Cripps and his Creative Inquiry course were cited in an article in the travel magazine AFAR by well-known deaf novelist Sara Nović, who visited Martha’s Vineyard to learn more about deaf ancestors and the history of shared-signed community. Cripps was also featured in a recent Clemson University video on accessibility. He talked about how important it is for all humans to learn signed language regardless of their degree of hearing loss in terms of Universal Design or Accessibility.
HISTORY – Associate Professor Caroline Dunn hosted the Fall, 2024 meeting of South Carolina Medievalists on September 14, where she also presented “Visualizing Elizabeth of York’s Ladies-in-Waiting.”
ENGLISH – Assistant Professor Stevie Edwards’s first poetry book, Good Grief, was recently re-released by Write Bloody Publishing. Originally published in 2012, Good Grief features a redesigned cover and is once again available for purchase from booksellers, including Amazon.
ENGLISH – Associate Professor Jonathan Beecher Field shared one of the highlights of his 2023 research fellowship at the University of Michigan’s William L. Clements Library in the Clements Library Chronicles. Titled “Panting After History,” the brief essay explores the illogic of a late 19th century advertisement for Plymouth Rock Pants, which is an illustration that portrays Pilgrims disembarking from the Mayflower, and picking up the stylish new pants they had ordered — from Native Americans. As Field explains, this image is historically inaccurate, but is a classic example of “settler kitsch,” his name for the cartoonish representations of encounters between settlers and Natives that proliferate in 19th and 20th century popular culture.
PERFORMING ARTS – Lillian Utsey Harder, Brooks Center director emerita and artistic director of the Utsey Chamber Music Series, secured a broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today on August 28 of violinist Geneva Lewis and pianist Evren Ozel’s performance of Bela Bartok’s Romanian Dances from their concert on March 28, 2024.
PERFORMING ARTS – Professor Kendra Johnson (Costume Designer) and Lecturer Erin Rodgers (Draper) collaborated to design, pattern, and construct an 18th-century clothing ensemble representing that of an enslaved woman working on a South Carolina indigo plantation. The resulting work is currently on display in the exhibit “Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo” at the Mingei International Museum.
ENGLISH – Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature Rhondda Robinson Thomas made the presentation “The Recovery of Cemetery Hill at Clemson University: the African American Burial Ground, Andrew P. Calhoun Family Plot, and Woodland Cemetery” at the 3rd Annual Preserving Historic Cemeteries Workshop on September 12, 2024 at the South Carolina Archives and History Center in Columbia.
LANGUAGES – Professor Eric Touya and Col. Lance S. Young have led a group of 12 Clemson students on a study abroad program to London, Paris and Normandy. The aim of the program was to revisit the journey of American soldiers during World War II in Europe from a French and American perspective. Through this journey, the students visited major historic sites in London (Churchill war rooms, De Gaulle Free-French headquarters and the Imperial War Museum), Normandy (D-Day landing beaches, museums, and cemeteries) and Paris (WWII Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation, Mont Valérien, WWII Musée de la Libération). They analyzed and reflected on the meaning and purpose of the GIs’ actions and experiences, and on current issues in international relations and cross-cultural exchange between France, Europe, and the United States. Throughout the program, student’s studied Touya’s book French-American Relations: Remembering D-Day after September 11.
