A Liberal Dose, April 11, 2024 "Stop the Death-March of Education in This State"

A Liberal Dose

April 11, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“Stop the death march of education in this state”

 

This weekend I spoke with Matthew Hawn (for reasons I will explain below). When comparing notes, we realized we both graduated from Tennessee Tech twenty years ago next month, and that we had many of the same professors and were even in some of the same classes, so we must have crossed paths. I was a History and English major and he was an Education major, so we may not have traveled the same social orbits… but we are aware of each other now, and the fact we have so much in common makes that even more noteworthy.

Matthew spent sixteen years teaching at the Sullivan County High School, including a class he taught for over ten years called “Contemporary Topics.” He was beloved by his students, and had never given anyone cause for complaint. Until the Tennessee General Assembly passed the so-called “critical race theory” and “divisive concepts” laws, and he actually discussed race (and assigned a reading by noted African American author Ta-Nehisi Coates) to his high school students. He became the first Tennessee educator to be fired under those laws (making national news -as is usual for Tennessee lately, not in a good way).

Tennessee is not the only state with such laws (but all the ones who do can accurately be described as red states). There are several. Other legislation has been put forward all around the country seeking to muzzle public educators, both in K12 and higher ed, and control what they teach and how they teach it where race, gender, or really almost any kind of minority status, are concerned.

Several concerned individuals and groups in Tennessee -including the Tennessee Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Tennessee chapter of the American Indian Movement-Indian Territory -have come together in recent months to create an informal organization called the Tennessee Coalition for Truth in Education (TCTE) with the goal of educating Tennesseans about these laws and their consequences. One of their first actions was a webinar (which was recorded and can be found on youtube by searching the organization’s name) featuring a couple of legal experts.

A larger, nationwide group has also formed recently -with members including AAUP chapters, higher ed unions, and student organizations from across the country -with the goal of organizing a “National Day of Action for Higher Ed for the Public Good” on April 17. Campuses in multiple states will be involved, directing interested parties to view a national live “teach-in” at 4pm Central that day, and/or other events geared toward local needs.

That’s where Matthew Hawn comes in.

The TCTE (check above if you get your acronyms confused, I’m slinging around a lot of them!) is sponsoring, at 6pm Central on April 17, a live educational webinar that will be promoted by participating organizations across Tennessee. The webinar will feature Hawn, telling his story, giving context, and answering a couple of questions. Really interested parties could watch both the 4pm national event and (or) the 6pm state one. You can learn more about the national teach-in at www.dayofactionforhighered.org , and about the Matthew Hawn presentation at www.facebook.com/TN.Coalition.4Truth .

Here is a quote from the Day of Action group: “Institutions of higher education serve to educate the public and to help generate the reliable information, broad-ranging knowledge, and reasoned analysis that a democratic society requires. Colleges and universities are spaces where research and ideas—including challenging ones—are subject to rigorous study and critical evaluation. In the interest of democracy, our educational institutions must be allowed to function free from interference by politicians, CEOs, and lobbyists seeking to repress inquiry.”

 

The folks who cry the loudest about so-called “cancel culture” want to cancel any educational, intellectual, or philosophical discourse that makes them uncomfortable -when making people uncomfortable is what education is FOR. If all it does is make you comfortable, it is not education, it is indoctrination.

 

I’ll close with a quote from the TCTE: “We are the only people who can stop the death march of education in this state.”

 

Get involved. Ask questions. Pressure your politicians. Be prepared to CHANGE your politicians if they continue to hamstring the education of our young people.

 

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 

 Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

 

A Liberal Dose, March 28, 2024 "The Power of Quiet Democrats"

 

A Liberal Dose

March 28, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“The power of quiet Democrats”

 

Back in the summer of 2021, I did a series of columns in this newspaper called “When White County Was Blue.” I was musing about the fact that, for most of my life, White County was so solidly Democratic that for all intents and purposes the Democratic Primary was the real election (for virtually all offices), and the general election only a technicality. I’m going to share a lengthy quote from the first column in that series:

“I looked at the presidential results in White County for every election between 1900 and 2020. Allow me to tell you how many times the Republican carried White County in the 20th century (25 elections).

“Twice.

“The first time was in 1972: Nixon vs. McGovern. Nixon won 60% to 37% (I will give all the results in terms of percentages)... Still, it was closer in White County than it was nationwide, where the margin was 68% to 30%. The only other time was 1988, when Bush, Sr. beat Dukakis on the national stage 58% to 42%. In White County, though, Bush’s victory was razor-thin: 50% to 49%, or a margin of only 82 votes…

“Reagan won Tennessee both times (1980 & 1984), but not White County. Bill Clinton won by large margins both times. Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee to Bush, but he won White County 53% to 45%. But in 2004 Bush beat Kerry, 56% to 44% -the numbers were reversed. Obama lost in 2008 63% to 35%, 68% to 31% in 2012. Trump won 78% to 19% in 2016, 81% to 18% in 2020.”

White County’s “red” status is relatively recent. A lot of folks who have moved here in the last 20 years might never have guessed that, and I guess a lot of people who are from here but under 30 might not have known it. I think a lot of folks who are from here but are over 30 have FORGOTTEN it, and forgotten which ticket they themselves used to punch.

Nowadays, it seems that only about one out of every five voters in White County votes Democratic. That’s not many. But let’s take a look at some actual numbers where registered voters are concerned.

In the 2020 presidential election, there were 16,637 registered voters in White County. Of those, 11,929 actually turned out -or about72%. By the time of the 2022 midterms, there were 17,350 voters, out of whom 7,033 turned out -or 40.5%. Smaller turnout when the White House is not at stake is the norm. But think about that total number of registered voters -17,350. If the one-in-five ratio holds up, that means there are about 3,500 Democratic-leaning voters in this county. 3,500 people in a place this size is NOT an insignificant number.

And I hear from them.

Some of them are people who’ve moved in (though the majority of people moving in lately have been conservatives from blue states). Many are younger people from here who have more progressive or liberal ideas than the majority. And a good many of them are people my age or older, who never did switch over to supporting Republicans. A lot of those people are quiet about their political beliefs, being in the minority -but they’re there. Turnout among registered Democrats tends to be small in rural Tennessee counties -because they are discouraged. They know their preferred presidential candidates have very little chance of winning here.

But you know what? A couple of thousand here and a couple of thousand there, added to the Democratic majorities in large cities, can make a HUGE difference in a statewide race (governor or U.S. senator). It could help send Marsha Blackburn home at the end of this year, and pick up a seat in the Senate for Democrats.

So if you’re a quiet Democrat… don’t be discouraged. Get out and vote. Your vote CAN make a difference.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 

  Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

 

A Liberal Dose, March 21, 2024 "Trump Promises a Bloodbath for the Country"

 

A Liberal Dose

March 21, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“Trump Promises a Bloodbath for the Country”

 

As I write these words (four days before you will read them), everyone is talking about some controversial statements made yesterday in Ohio by Donald Trump (imagine that). One of those statements concerns undocumented immigrants:

“I don’t know if you call them people,” Trump said. “In some cases they’re not people, in my opinion. But I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say.”

Well, it is a terrible thing to say. About anybody. Because claiming that some people don’t count as people -similarly to calling groups of people “vermin,” as Trump has done repeatedly -is something authoritarians have frequently done throughout history (one authoritarian in particular, a little fellow with a funny mustache). It is a tactic to dehumanize members of that group -to “other” them, as sociologists and anthropologists say -in order to make it easier to hate them. And to kill them. It wouldn’t REALLY count as killing, you see, since they are not human.

But his next statements are what people have been talking about the most. While discussing the future of the auto industry, he said, “If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”

The media, and Trump’s political opponents, have pointed to these words as a dire warning: that Trump is predicting, and even calling for, violence if he loses. Trump, and his defenders, say those complaints are taken out of context and twisting his words, that what he meant (in his colorful way) was that the auto industry would be destroyed by Biden’s policies. And, looking at it in context, that very well may have been what he was trying to say.

But, gee, why would people be prone to take him at his literal word with things like this?

Maybe it is because of the strong tendency he has shown to issue dog whistles to his most violent followers, phrased in such a way as to have plausible deniability but clearly evident to his intended audience. And sometimes it is bullhorns, not dog whistles: promising to pay the legal expenses of his followers if they beat up protesters (when, as we know, he doesn’t even pay his own legal bills), suggesting that the police intentionally injure people when they arrest them, calling for the U.S. military to shoot down peaceful protesters in the streets. And, whether it’s Trump or his cronies saying it… people listen.

Remember the guy who shot up a pizza place because right-wing media claimed that Hillary Clinton was running a child prostitution ring in its (nonexistent) basement? The guy who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s house and cracked her husband’s skull with a hammer? I don’t know, the couple of thousand people who stormed the Capitol threatening to hang Mike Pence?

Some Republican senators privately admitted that they did not vote to convict Trump in his January 6^th impeachment because they literally feared for their families’ lives from his supporters. So have some judges. Anyone who opposes him gets massive amounts of death threats… and we’ve all seen evidence it is not hyperbole.

Study after study has shown that political violence is on the rise in this country. The Anti-Defamation League reported there were 450 murders committed by political extremists in the U.S. in the last decade -20% by Muslim extremists, 4% by people on the left wing… and 75% by right-wing extremists. This is backed up by studies done by the FBI, the Global Terrorism Database, and other sources.

Just like on January 6^th, Trump does not physically do anything (he rarely does, come to think of it, in any context)… but his words have done a LOT. And still do.

Donald Trump’s mouth has already created a bloodbath in this country. And he keeps ratcheting it up.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

A Liberal Dose, March 14, 2023 "No TVA Pipeline in the Upper Cumberland"

 

A Liberal Dose

March 14, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“No TVA Pipeline in the Upper Cumberland”

 

Have any of you heard about the massive protests, led by Native Americans, against the expansion of the Line 3 oil pipeline in Minnesota (the same pipeline that, in 1991, had the largest inland oil spill in American history, owned by a company that had 808 oil spills between 1999 and 2010 alone)?

Do you remember the massive, Native American led protests in 2016 against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was being built on sacred lands along the border of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, passing underneath the reservation’s only water source? You know, the one where North Dakota militarized sheriff’s offices around the state and brutally beat indigenous protesters and their allies? The one where the term “water protectors” was popularized, as was the Lakota Sioux phrase mni wiconi, “water is life”.

Have you heard about the natural gas pipeline that the TVA is wanting to have built through the Upper Cumberland? The one that will impact dozens of private landowners in the region via eminent domain? Which passes through the Flynn’s Lick impact crater in Jackson County -the largest meteor impact crater in the world -which was also a Native American cultural and burial site? Most of the graves and mounds were looted years ago, but some no doubt remain, as does the cultural significance of the area.

Aside from the indigenous connection, all those examples have one thing in common: they are constructed, operated, and owned by Enbridge, Inc., a Canadian energy and pipeline company.

You’ve no doubt heard about oil spills and how common they are, and how damaging to the environment. Are you aware that natural gas spills are also becoming a big problem? Except, in addition to spewing methane into the air (and into drinking water), they are also known to explode, causing massive devastation.

Energy companies promote their pipeline projects by saying how safe the whole process is. Except it isn’t. They also talk about how their pipeline projects bring in jobs -that was the big argument in North Dakota -except the vast majority of those jobs are either highly specialized and require trained workers from outside the area, or they employ contract workers in the industry who travel the country from pipeline project to pipeline project. The small number of local jobs that might be created disappear as soon as the pipeline is finished.

One thing energy companies don’t want is public opposition. When such opposition reaches the level of on-site protests, such companies have utilized their political power to have state governments intervene (sometimes violently) on their behalf, and/or have utilized their financial power to control the media and ensure that either the situation does not get reported on or that it is extremely one-sided. Since 2017 (the year the Dakota situation ended in the pipeline’s approved completion), red states around the country (including Tennessee) have passed laws making it specifically illegal, sometimes a felony, to protest on the site of a pipeline, and in some cases to grant immunity to anyone who runs over protesters with their car.

But there are other ways to fight these things, including the one looming over the Upper Cumberland. Local groups like SAGE (Safe, Affordable, Good Energy for Tennessee) have joined forces with larger groups such as the Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, and now the Tennessee chapter of AIM (American Indian Movement)-Indian Territory to organize peaceful campaigns putting pressure on the TVA to reject the Enbridge bid and go a different route. A similar campaign worked in West Tennessee not long ago.

If you are interested in learning more about all of this, and to participate in the effort to protect the Upper Cumberland from this pipeline, go online and search for the TVA’s Ridgeline Pipeline Expansion project. You’ll mostly get PR from the TVA and Enbridge, so also search for the organizations I mentioned above.

We can make a difference.

 --Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

A Liberal Dose, February 22, 2024 "The Illegal Act of Teaching History in Tennessee"

 

A Liberal Dose

February 22, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“The Illegal Act of Teaching History in Tennessee”

 

I have spoken often in this space about the spate of “divisive concepts” laws passed by our state’s general assembly, which impose draconian restrictions on how subjects such as race, gender, and so on may be addressed in a classroom. Each one is a little worse than the last, and further abridges both academic freedom/free speech and teachers’ ability to convey the truth about history. So it is not really surprising that a new one, the worst yet, is currently making its way through committee at the state capitol.

First, let’s revisit the history and context of this phenomenon (something they used to let historians do). The whole thing got a huge jump start in September, 2020, when then-president Donald Trump went on a tirade about “critical race theory” and the New York Times “1619 Project.” The former is the study of how legal systems have been affected by race, and the latter is a study of slavery’s fundamental role in establishing the colonies that became America. There had been a lot of pushback that summer by conservatives who were insulted by the protests that occurred after the murder, that spring, of George Floyd.

Immediately after Trump made it a national issue, legislatures in red states started proposing what at first were called anti-critical-race-theory laws (and Fox News started talking about it around the clock). That catchphrase has faded, and now the same thing is being done over “DEI” (diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives.) Tennessee was no different. They started out with laws pertaining to K12, and with the next wave expanded it to public universities. Not coincidentally, at the same time school libraries around the country (as a result of new state laws) started removing books about race, gender, LGBTQ+ issues… and even the Holocaust. Like the other red states who did so, Tennessee’s laws specified a list of “divisive concepts” that were now illegal in the education system: implicit bias, systemic or structural racism, male chauvinism and patriarchy, and etc. Even books about people like Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson started getting tossed out.

The first drafts of the higher ed laws called for immediate termination of any professor who taught about these things, until they realized that academic freedom concepts (so far) upheld by the Supreme Court give professors a lot more protection than high school teachers. Now the threat is that any student who is made to feel guilty, or uncomfortable in any way, by classroom material or discussion can sue the professor. Imagine what it would be like to be a minority in such an educational system, and find that any discussion about any suffering your people (or you) have experienced must be curtailed by law, because it might make someone else (who’s probably not a minority) feel bad. As a Cherokee friend of mine said, “My people were victims of genocide. That hurts MY feelings.” Imagine, too, how unprepared students are going to be when they go out into the real world lacking basic knowledge students in most other states received.

So what is the newest version? HB2348/SB2610, which would be an amendment to an existing law about the crime of supporting terrorism. It “prohibits an entity supported in whole or in part by public funds from knowingly providing meeting spaces or other forums, including, but not limited to, electronic and print platforms, to a designated entity by which the designated entity may solicit material support, recruit new members, encourage violent action, or advocate divisive concepts” and makes it a class-E felony.

A felony. Related to terrorism.

What kind of groups could this prohibit? United Campus Workers. American Association of University Professors. NAACP. Native American groups. Heck, the Democratic Party. They all oppose these laws, and the suppression of academic freedom and free speech.

Supporters of these laws are people constantly complaining about “cancel culture” and “erasing history.” And who often “encourage violent action.” Seems it only applies to one side.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

A Liberal Dose, February 15, 2024 "Civil War Historians and the 14th Amendment"

 

A Liberal Dose

February 15, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“Civil War Historians and the 14^th Amendment”

 

Last week, the Supreme Court took up the issue of whether Colorado can bar Trump from the presidential ballot based on the 14^th amendment, and heard oral arguments. It may be several weeks before they release a ruling. Observers and pundits are leaning toward the belief that Colorado’s ruling will be struck down, as all nine justices seemed to express doubts about whether the amendment applies to presidents (since they are not mentioned specifically), whether that section can be executed without Congress passing a specific law to do so, and (mostly) whether it is wise or fair  for one state’s decision to affect the outcome of a national election.

However, the outcome is not yet guaranteed. The Supreme Court often issues rulings that do not conform to what it LOOKED like they were thinking during oral arguments. Sometimes when Justices ask hard questions of one side, and even seem dubious about their position, it is to give that side the opportunity to address those points. So (unless a ruling is released between the time I am writing this and the time you read it) it could still go either way, at this point. I think it’ worth pointing out that the questions all nine Justices asked are in line with the arguments John Gottlied made in his column in this paper in response to mine, whereas the arguments made by the Colorado Court align with those I made, so we’ll see which way it falls. I would like to mention, though, the role historians have played in this process.

Whereas it was prominent law scholars (including some conservative ones) who first introduced the question of the 14^th Amendment and Trump’s eligibility a few months ago, several of the most prominent and respected living historians of the Civil War and Reconstruction have contributed directly to this case. Two groups of them wrote amicus curiae briefs in favor of Colorado’s position, laying out their arguments in great detail (all of them arguments I have made in previous installments of this column). An amicus curiae, or “friend of the court”, brief is a statement presented to a court in support of one side or the other, usually by experts in the topic at hand. It is something historians often do. In my American Indian Law class, I structure the research paper assignment as an amicus brief in support of the Native American tribe of the student’s choice, in which the student presents themselves as a professional historian and explain the context, history, and current political meaning of a given controversy between that tribe and the federal or state government.

The first of these two briefs was written and signed by four historians, two each from Harvard and Yale. These included Drew Gilpin Faust and David Blight, two of America’s most prominent Civil War historians. The other one was signed by 25 historians, including my mentors Vernon Burton and David Roediger (both of whom were on my dissertation committee, and both of whom have justifiably won many accolades for their influential scholarship). Others on that list included James McPherson (probably the most famous living Civil War historian), Steve Hahn, Kenneth Noe, Nell Irvin Painter, and George C. Rable. Even well-read lay readers with an interest in the Civil War will recognize many of these names. I was initially invited to sign this one, as well, but it was decided that my specialty (Native Americans in the Civil War and Reconstruction) might be too narrow to help the efficacy of the document. It was a huge honor just to be asked, though.

You can easily find the text of both these briefs online, and I encourage you to do so. Even if the Supreme Court decision goes against removing Trump from the ballot, my arguments for doing so did not come out of left field; they are the consensus of professional historians in my field.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

A Liberal Dose, February 8, 2024 "Dr. King's Words on Conscience, Action, and Courage -True as Ever"

 

A Liberal Dose

February 8, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“Dr. King’s Words on Conscience, Action, and Courage -True As Ever”

My MLK Day speech was canceled for snow, so -for Black History Month- I am presenting it here. I begin with a lengthy quote from a Dr. King speech in 1968:

“We are coming to ask America to be true to the huge promissory note that it signed years ago. And we are coming to engage in dramatic nonviolent action, to call attention to the gulf between promise and fulfillment; to make the invisible visible. Why do we do it this way? We do it this way because it is our experience that the nation doesn’t move around questions of genuine equality …until it is confronted massively, dramatically in terms of direct action.

“Great documents are here to tell us something should be done... Nothing has been done. And I submit that nothing will be done until people of goodwill put their bodies and their souls in motion. And it will be the kind of soul force brought into being as a result of this confrontation that I believe will make the difference.

“One day we will have to stand before the God of history and we will talk in terms of things we’ve done…  I’m not a consensus leader. I do not determine what is right and wrong by looking at the budget…. I’ve not taken a sort of Gallup Poll of the majority opinion. Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus. On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right? There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right. 

“We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. We shall overcome because Carlyle is right—'No lie can live forever.’ We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right—'Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again.’ We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right—as we were singing earlier today, ‘behind the dim unknown stands God, Within the shadow keeping watch above his own.’ “With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair the stone of hope… we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”

END QUOTE.

My summary: We have to take action on what our conscience tells us is right. For 55 years Americans have been asking themselves: what would I have done if I had been around during the civil rights movement? And answering themselves: I know I would have stood up for what’s right.

Would you? What are you doing today? Because the civil rights movement is not over. The civil rights movement is not then. IT IS NOW. We are living in a very inexpedient and impolitic time for speakers of truth about history. And for that matter, about the present. We live in a political climate where it has become dangerous to speak truth.

What are you going to do? Because dangerous as it might seem, no one is siccing attack dogs on you, or cracking your skull with nightsticks, or shooting you down in the street. So what excuse do we have?

Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again. Are we going to hide in a bed of comfortable lies, or are we going to rise up with the truth? Are we going to stand, with a clean conscience, before “the God of history”, or are we going to kneel before a god of lies?

There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular… and that time is now.

We shall overcome.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party and the board of the Tennessee chapter of AIM (American Indian Movement)-Indian Territory. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 

 Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE