For Civil War and Memory we watched John Ford’s classic Civil War Cavalry film The Horse Soldiers staring John Wayne and William Holden. Released in 1959, in the height of the Civil Rights movement we were watching to see how the themes of the Lost Cause were portrayed. Again, the way I ask students to … Continue reading Class Notes →

Amy B. Voorhees in her book A New Christian Identity: Christian Science Origins and Experiences in American Culture wrote, “As early Christian Science adherents engaged the Bible as interpreted by Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, they forged a new Christianity identity. This new religious identity mediated modernity in distinctive … Continue reading Class Notes →

There were changes to the Civil Rights movement in the later 1960s. The fight became frustrating for some as things were moving slowly. Stokely Carmichael, leader of SNCC captured this anger in the phrase Black Power. Carmichael rejected the integration of MLK and instead wanted Blacks to develop their own culture and become self-dependent.

Ellen White’s biographer, Reme Noorbergen, wrote, “the record of Ellen White as a prophet is not one based purely on fulfillment of prediction, yet even though she never laid boastful claim of being a prophet, she most definitely did the work of one and more. Her medical insight was faultless in every way; her spiritual … Continue reading Class Notes →

For my Civil War in Memory class, we watched the 1940 Raoul Walsh film Dark Command staring John Wayne and Walter Pidgeon. The film was very different from Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind in that it did not portray slavery in a positive light. The story takes place in Kansas and … Continue reading Class Notes →

During her lifetime, Ellen White wrote dozens of books whose texts came from God and at time had quotes that came directly from angels. She even wrote a nine-volume work called Testimonies of the Church that helped in the creation of the Seventh-day Adventists. One thing that sets her apart from Joseph Smith is that … Continue reading Class Notes →

In March of 1963, Martin Luther King was arrested for violating and injunction against marching in Birmingham Al. While in prison he wrote possibly his most famous justification of his cause. He had been criticized by ministers of rocking the boat and causing more harm than good. In his letters he spelled out that he … Continue reading Class Notes →

It was on Christmas Day 1865 that Ellen White received the vision for the establishment of the Health Institute that would take care of the sick and also teach her doctrines of preventive medicine. This became the forerunner for the chain of Seventh-Day Adventist medical institutions around the world, health being a major part of … Continue reading Class Notes →

The first real challenge to the Brown V. BOE decision happened at Central High School in Little Rock, AR. Knowing that Black students planned to attend Central High the governor called out the national guard to protect them. However, they had no plans of protecting them, instead they deemed it unsafe for the students and … Continue reading Class Notes →

Born 22 years the junior of Joseph Smith, Ellen White had a similar background. Both born in New England and raised during the Second Great Awakening they were surrounded by religious excitement. While Smith was not connected with any religious movement, White joined with the Millerite movement led by William Miller who had predicted Christ’s … Continue reading Class Notes →