history
A Statement of Purpose
From the day I stepped foot into my first history class at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, I knew something would change, and it had monumental possibilities. My first class, The Civil Rights Movement, charted a new course for my life that I had never imagined. As I glance around the classroom and considered myself the minority for the first time in my life, I wondered if I could take the pressure, but much more, I considered exactly what the class content would be.
Growing up in rural North Central Alabama, I learned little of racial culture, with the exception of the strong Native American heritage that Alabama possessed. Of course, there was a splash of race talk with the Civil War and then a dash there with the ‘60s and the right to vote. However, most of my education in rural white Alabama focused on the people themselves and the populism that had always prevailed. Populism’s hero in Alabama, and our textbooks, for longer than I can remember as a student in high school, praised the humanitarian work of the demagogue Governor George C. Wallace.
As I learned about the horror and tragedy of the civil rights movement, I noticed how the storytellers moved me and my already-evolving and challenged lifestyle began to flock to their voices. The history of the civil rights movement sparked my interest into the social history of the ‘60s, which invoked intrigue into the intersection of human rights and Cold War politics. Before I knew it, I found myself studying the rapid development of urban cities and infrastructure of the same era and its consequences on the local communities.
It all began as an earnest attempt to simply “finish” my Bachelor’s Degree. After taking a three-year hiatus from school to decide I really wanted in life, I returned to UAB while working full-time as a Communications Coordinator at a local church. More than anything, I wanted my Bachelor’s Degree, because I would be one the first to claim a degree in my family. I enrolled in the History program due to my interest in the subject and I could complete my degree in the evening. However, what I encountered when I entered the program completely changed my life for the better.
My academic career progressed as my education was enriched by professors such as Dr. Colin Davis, Dr. Samuel Webb, and Dr. Robert Corley in undergraduate school. Returning to school accelerated me onto a drive for success, which placed me on the Dean’s List for two semesters and on the President’s List for one semester. As I continued to strive to perfect my writing and research, I sought options for graduate school, which I had never considered before. Before I sought post-baccalaureate work, I chose to move to Washington, D.C. for a year. While I was in the city, I learned of its rich history and culture and essentially fell in love with the district. The people, the music, the stories, and the life among the national buzz of politics proved that D.C. was more than the eye normally saw. It was during my time in Washington, D.C. that I decided to return for graduate studies and pursue a Ph.D. in urban and social history, hoping to specifically focus on Washington. Upon returning to Birmingham, Alabama, and to my studies, I immersed myself into as much of the urban culture of the city as possible, and searched for the stories that made the metropolis what it was. Seminars in the History of Birmingham and the Modern America helped me to further understand the concepts of urban and social history and how they intertwined. Under the mentorship of Dr. Raymond Mohl, I discovered a plethora of information about the Rust Belt, the Sun Belt, and the South, and how each region struggled with race relations.
Since the time that I confirmed with my mentor, Dr. Mohl, that I desired to pursue doctoral studies, I have remained proactive in my academic career. I served on the editorial board for the Vulcan Historical Review as the layout editor, as well as a silent co-editor. My film review on the late local Washingtonian Petey Greene was published in the 2007 edition of the Vulcan Historical Review. During my studies in Birmingham, I served as a graduate assistant at the UAB Historical Collections, where I helped to maintain the University Archives, assisted the curator of the Alabama Museum of Health Sciences, and preserved and processed books with the librarian of the Reynolds Historical Library. By continuing my education at UAB under the advisement of Dr. Raymond Mohl, it is my hope that I will be able to begin a new chapter in my academic career in the doctoral field in American Urban History next fall in a school on the East Coast.
