Rhodes College Department of History

10/16/2026

Students! Do you need a ride to the polls tomorrow for early voting or on Election Day? 🚗

Scan the QR code to sign up for a ride provided by the Turley Memphis Center.

10/13/2026

Don't miss out on this great event!

The Rhodes College Bookstore will be selling copies of America, U.S.A., and Begin Again at the event and Eddie S. Glaude Jr. will be available for book signing after the lecture.

Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr., a nationally renowned speaker, best-selling author, scholar, and frequent media commentator, will deliver Rhodes College’s annual Constitution Day lecture on Friday, Oct. 23, at 5:30 p.m. in McNeill Concert Hall (West Campus). The title of the talk is “America at 250.”

The purpose of Rhodes’ annual Constitution Day event is to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and to reflect on the role and function of the government and Americans’ liberties and obligations as citizens. Starting on Constitution Day—September 17, the college’s Barret Library will feature a framed copy of the Constitution along with related books and works by Glaude.

Glaude is the author of several books, including "We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For" and the New York Times bestseller "Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own."

His recent book "America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries (2026)." According to the book’s description: "America, U.S.A.," deliberately formulated and beautifully written, details a heart-wrenching exploration of America’s legacy. It is a magnificently complex combination of lessons and voices—from W.E.B. DuBois and John Dos Passos to Herman Melville and Martin Luther King, Jr.—that, together, paint a sprawling and honest tableau of the United States, its complicated past, and ever more tenuous future.

Glaude holds a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University and currently serves as the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor there.

Glaude’s lecture at Rhodes on Oct. 23 is free and open to the public, but attendees must pre-register using this link:

https://fs22.formsite.com/webmanagerrhodesedu/udvfen0iot/index

Those with specific inquiries about the Rhodes event can contact the Rhodes College Department of History at 901-843-3662.

https://news.rhodes.edu/stories/nationally-renowned-speaker-eddie-glaude-jr-present-constitution-day-lecture-rhodes-college

10/13/2026

Never one to rest on his laurels, Lynn's latest chapter, “Rammohun Roy, Celebrity Unitarian,” has been published in The Cambridge Companion to Rammohun Roy, ed. Dipesh Chakrabarty, Rosinka Chaudhuri and Tanika Sarkar (Cambridge University Press, 2026).
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-rammohun-roy/rammohun-roy-celebrity-unitarian/C6E4DFC0B030459791E62884EBEF5558

Congrats Lynn!

Book description
The Cambridge Companion to Rammohun Roy offers a revaluation of Rammohun's life and work through fresh readings of his life and legacy. It also aims to present a global connected history of modern thought in the early nineteenth century, prioritizing local sources in both the English press and Bengali-language publications that were so far unexplored.

09/24/2026

Rhodes College hosts a screening of the documentary "The Memphis 13," followed by a panel discussion with members of the Memphis 13.

The Memphis 13 are the Black first-grade students who were the first to desegregate Memphis City Schools, and this October represents the 65th anniversary of that important action.

The event will be held on Tuesday, October 20th at 4PM in Blount Auditorium (Buckman).

It is held in collaboration with the Memphis 13 Foundation and co-sponsored by Africana Studies, Educational Studies, History, Media Studies, Urban Studies, and the Lynne and Henry Turley Memphis Center for Community Engagement.

09/21/2026

Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr., a nationally renowned speaker, best-selling author, scholar, and frequent media commentator, will deliver Rhodes College’s annual Constitution Day lecture on Friday, Oct. 23, at 5:30 p.m. in McNeill Concert Hall (West Campus). The title of the talk is “America at 250.”

The purpose of Rhodes’ annual Constitution Day event is to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and to reflect on the role and function of the government and Americans’ liberties and obligations as citizens. Starting on Constitution Day—September 17, the college’s Barret Library will feature a framed copy of the Constitution along with related books and works by Glaude.

Glaude is the author of several books, including "We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For" and the New York Times bestseller "Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own."

His recent book "America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries (2026)." According to the book’s description: "America, U.S.A.," deliberately formulated and beautifully written, details a heart-wrenching exploration of America’s legacy. It is a magnificently complex combination of lessons and voices—from W.E.B. DuBois and John Dos Passos to Herman Melville and Martin Luther King, Jr.—that, together, paint a sprawling and honest tableau of the United States, its complicated past, and ever more tenuous future.

Glaude holds a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University and currently serves as the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor there.

Glaude’s lecture at Rhodes on Oct. 23 is free and open to the public, but attendees must pre-register using this link:

https://fs22.formsite.com/webmanagerrhodesedu/udvfen0iot/index

Those with specific inquiries about the Rhodes event can contact the Rhodes College Department of History at 901-843-3662.

https://news.rhodes.edu/stories/nationally-renowned-speaker-eddie-glaude-jr-present-constitution-day-lecture-rhodes-college

09/21/2026

Lecture co-sponsored by the University of Memphis Department of History Memphis Historians and the Marcus W. Orr Center for the Humanities

"Fierce Desires: Variation, Conflict, and Pleasure in the History of American S*xuality"
Rebecca L. Davis // University of Delaware
Belle McWilliams Lecture Series

Thursday, September 24
Reception @ 5:30pm // Lecture @ 6:00pm
McWherter Library, 2nd Floor Commons
Convenient parking in the Zach Curlin Garage

In the United States today, we have government decrees that there are only two s*xes, debates about “trad wives” and polyamory, and frequent references to the nation’s “puritan” past. But in her latest book—and in this talk—Professor Rebecca L. Davis argues that seventeenth-century Puritans are a weak precedent for how the history of s*xuality has unfolded in the United States. Into the 1800s, the United States was far more welcoming of gender nonconformity and same-s*x/queer desires than we might presume. Instead, a significant shift occurred in the late nineteenth century, when anti-obscenity and anti-immigration legislation vastly expanded the federal government’s investment in shaping s*xual morality. The history that unfolds is far less about prudish puritans than shifting s*xual values. Our contemporary conflicts over s*x and gender highlight the power of this surprising history.

Rebecca L. Davis is a historian of s*xuality, gender, race, and religion in the United States and the author or editor of four books. Her most recent book, "Fierce Desires: A New History of S*x and S*xuality in America," was a one of The New Yorker’s Best Books of the Year, a Washington Post Notable Book of the Year, a 2025 finalist for the Lambda Literary Lammy Award in LGBTQ+ nonfiction, and a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year. A professor of History and a professor of Women and Gender Studies at the University of Delaware, her work—spanning books, essays, and podcasts—aims to make the past newly relevant to contemporary debates about bodies, identity, and intimacy.

09/09/2026

Congratulations to Robert Saxe for publishing his second book, Daily Life For Americans During World War II! We'll be hosting a book lecture and alumni networking event on Thursday, November 12th at 4:30 pm during Homecoming Weekend, and you can purchase the book on Bloomsbury's website:

See World War II through the lens of the day-to-day realities of war, both at home and on the battlefront. Looking at everyday life during one of the most tumul…

09/02/2026

There are so many great lifelong learning classes starting in September, including “Introduction to Disability Studies” (Sept 28, Oct 5, 12, 19). Last week’s Education Week featured an article on Disability Studies as “a rich discipline that builds empathy” (link in comments). We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to learn the history, culture, and varied approaches of this growing field with Professor Charles Hughes-- there is no one better!

08/31/2026

Come cheer on the Lynx!

Rhodes Athletics is back! The Lynx will open their seasons at home throughout September. Wear your red and black, and bring your family and friends. Bring the noise and support the Lynx all season long!