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I am a native Virginian, but my family roots are in southern West Virginia. I have loved history since I learned to read; some say I “got it honestly” because my mother was a high school history teacher—ironically though, she and I do not like the same periods of history! As an undergraduate, I studied at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, however I did not take a single colonial history class (what a nut!). After seeing a recruiting poster that said “Do You Want a Career in History, but Don’t Want to Teach?,” I headed off to West Virginia University to study Public History. After completing my Masters’ work by gathering interviews for an oral history project in Matewan, in Mingo County, West Virginia, I decided to stay at WVU to pursue a PhD with a specialization in Appalachian History. What’s special about Matewan and Mingo County? Well, it’s where both the Hatfield- McCoy Feud and a labor incident referred to as the Matewan Massacre occurred. The massacre was the focus of the 1987 movie Matewan by John Sayles, and starring James Earl Jones. My dissertation (and hopefully in 2007, the book) Matewan Before the Massacre explores why this one town, of all of the communities in southern West Virginia, was the place where two such violent and ultimately infamous events took place. What is really interesting to me is that the oral histories of the people in the community led me to look at the Massacre in a way that was more complex and factually accurate than what previous academic scholars had written. After finishing my degree in 2001, I taught in Georgia for five years before coming to NKU in the fall of 2006 to teach public history and start a full-fledged public history program. For anyone considering being a history major, but are uncertain because you don’t know what you would do with your degree—Consider Public History! Come see me in Landrum 430; I’d be happy to talk to you about your interests and the career options public history offers.
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