“There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem. And we are met here tonight as Americans--not as Democrats or Republicans-we are met here as Americans to solve that problem…Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negros, but … Continue reading Class Notes
Author: James Finck
Dr. James W. Finck was raised in the shadows of history in the great state of Virginia. Growing up it was difficult to travel too far without running into a monument or battlefield from the Revolutionary or Civil War. In this environment, Finck developed a love for studying the past and from his youth knew that he wanted to make it his life’s work. Finck received a B.A. from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He then studied under James I. Robertson and William C. Davis at Virginia Tech, while earning a Master’s degree. Finally, he received his Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas, under the direction of Daniel Sutherland. For five years, Finck taught at the University of Texas-Pan American before accepting his current position as American Historian at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in 2011. At a small liberal arts institution, Finck considers himself a generalist in history, but his specialties are the Civil War and American Politics. Finck has established himself in Oklahoma with the creation of the Oklahoma Civil War Symposium, which has brought in leading Civil War scholars for the past eight years, and he has spoken at many venues around Oklahoma, especially working with the Honey Spring Battlefield. Finck is the author of Divided Loyalties: Kentucky’s Struggle for Armed Neutrality in the Civil War, as well as Images of America: Chickasha. Finck is also the author of the syndicated newspaper column “Historically Speaking.”
Class Notes
“Great themes run through Iranian history and shape it to this day. One is the continuing and often frustrating effort to find a synthesis between Islam, which was imposed on the country by Arab conquerors, and the rich heritage of pre-Islamic times. Another, fueled by Shiite Muslim tradition to which most Iranians now belong, is … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
John Quincy Adams had the potential to be one of our greatest presidents and is unquestionably the greatest ex-president. He entered office with more experience than anyone before or after and might possibly be the smartest chief executive ever. He suffered from the same problem his father had, things ran so smoothly during his one … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
On February 1, 1960, four well-dressed Black college students walked into the Woolworth store in Greensboro, NC and took a seat at the Whites only lunch counter. They were arrested. By the end of the week over 300 more sat in those same seats. They represented the growing frustration of Blacks waiting for equal rights … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
The man most responsible for the breakdown of the one-party system was Andrew Jackson. Jackson was everything that past presidents were not. He came from a poor family and worked his way up to make something of himself. He was the first man of the people and as such, believed parties were there for the … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
Before the Brown V. Board of Education decision, the NAACP tried to make segregation too expensive by requiring states to spend money on creating Black institutions. The 1896 Plessy v Ferguson decision stated that institutions could be separate but equal. The NAACP tried to use the case against them. A great example is the case … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
After Kennedy’s successful handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, he finally regained the swagger he had when he ran for president, it was time for Camelot. It was really only then, in 1963 that he decided it was time to deal with Civil Rights, a difficult topic within his own party. Kennedy decided to try … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
The 1820s changed politics forever. Gone were the days when a few men wrote letters to each other and chose presidential candidates. Also gone were the days when everyone saw parties as wrong, even the days where you only saw the other party as wrong. During this time there was really no need for campaigns, … Continue reading Class Notes
Congressional Freedom of Speech
As the U.S. House of Representatives voted recently to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of all her committee assignments, I was reminded of two sections of the Constitution. The first is Article 1, Section 5, which reads, “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence … Continue reading Congressional Freedom of Speech
Class Notes
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, “The doctrine of the separation of powers was adopted by the Convention of 1787, not to promote efficiency, but to preclude the exercise of arbitrary power. The purpose was, not to avoid friction, but, by means of the inevitable friction incident to the distribution of governmental powers among … Continue reading Class Notes
Historically Speaking 