Many of us can identify with Sam Cooke's song lyric: “Don’t know much about history…,” yet we equally suspect Winston Churchill was right when he said, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."
Well, Georgia Writers Museum has a remedy for this dilemma—at least as far as understanding post-Civil War southern culture. Renowned historian Dr. Culpepper "Cully" Clark will conduct a “Meet the Author” presentation at the museum Aug. 2, about his book, The Birth of a New South: Sherman, Grady, and the Making of Atlanta.
According to Dr. Clark, no two names are more associated with the emergence of the New South than General William Tecumseh Sherman, “the destroyer,” and Henry Grady, managing editor of the Atlanta Constitution during the 1880s and the New South's principal architect.
Dr. Clark is dean emeritus of the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, where he was college dean from 2006 until retiring in 2013. For 10 years prior to that, he was dean of the College of Communication at the University of Alabama.
Dr. Clark earned bachelor's and master's degrees in history from Emory University and a doctorate in history from the University of North Carolina. A noted historian of the South, Clark's published works have focused on the New South Movement, civil rights and communication.
Dr. Clark is the author of The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation's Last Stand at the University of Alabama, named a Notable Book by the New York Times Book Review.
He also founded and edited the series, Studies in Rhetoric and Communication, in which more than 30 titles appeared. He is a past president of the Southern States Communication Association and currently lives in Stone Mountain with his wife.
Admission to the event is free, with museum doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and Dr. Clark’s presentation beginning one-half-hour later. He will be introduced by Mark Smith, owner and CEO of Smith Communications and publisher of The Eatonton Messenger, among several other titles.
Visit Georgia Writers Museum (109 S. Jefferson Ave., Eatonton), or visit online at georgiawritersmuseum.com to make a reservation.