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Comer Vann Woodward (November 13, 1908 – December 17, 1999) was an American
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
who focused primarily on the
American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
and
race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...
. He was long a supporter of the approach of
Charles A. Beard Charles Austin Beard (1874–1948) was an American historian and professor, who wrote primarily during the first half of the 20th century. A history professor at Columbia University, Beard's influence is primarily due to his publications in the ...
, stressing the influence of unseen economic motivations in politics. Stylistically, he was a master of irony and counterpoint. Woodward was on the left end of the history profession in the 1930s. By the 1950s he was a leading liberal and supporter of civil rights. His book ''The Strange Career of Jim Crow'', which demonstrated that racial segregation was an invention of the late 19th century rather than an inevitable post- Civil-War development, was endorsed by
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
as "the historical Bible of the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...
". After attacks on him by the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
in the late 1960s, he moved to the right politically.Hackney, 2009 He won a
Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...
for his annotated edition of Mary Chestnut's Civil War diaries.


Early life and education

C. Vann Woodward was born in
Vanndale, Arkansas Vanndale (formerly Oak Grove) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Searcy Township, Cross County, Arkansas, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 339. Vanndale was the ...
, a town named after his mother's family and the county seat from 1886 to 1903. It was in Cross County in eastern
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...
. Woodward attended
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper second ...
in
Morrilton, Arkansas Morrilton is a city in Conway County, Arkansas, United States, less than northwest of Little Rock. The city is the county seat of Conway County. The population was 6,992 at the 2020 United States census. History In 1825 a trading post was establ ...
. He attended Henderson-Brown College, a small
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
school in
Arkadelphia Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,714. The city is the county seat of Clark County. It is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson ...
, for two years. In 1930 he transferred to
Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of h ...
in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, where his uncle was dean of students and professor of
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...
. After graduating, he taught English composition for two years at
Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...
in Atlanta. There he met Will W. Alexander, head of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, and J. Saunders Redding, a historian at
Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Found ...
. Woodward enrolled in graduate school at Columbia University in 1931 and received his M.A. from that institution in 1932. In New York, Woodward met, and was influenced by,
W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up i ...
,
Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...
, and other figures who were associated with the
Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
movement. After receiving his master's degree in 1932, Woodward worked for the defense of Angelo Herndon, a young
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensla ...
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
member who had been accused of subversive activities. He also traveled to the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
and Germany in 1932. He did graduate work in history and
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...
at the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, NC School o ...
. He was granted a Ph.D. in history in 1937, using as his dissertation the manuscript he had already finished on Thomas E. Watson. Woodward's dissertation director was
Howard K. Beale Howard Kennedy Beale (April 8, 1899 – December 27, 1959) was an American historian. He had several temporary appointments before becoming a professor of history at the University of North Carolina in 1935. His most famous student was C. Vann Wo ...
, a
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
specialist who promoted the Beardian economic interpretation of history that deemphasized ideology and ideas and stressed material self-interest as a motivating factor. In World War II, Woodward served in the Navy, assigned to write the history of major battles. His ''The
Battle for Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was f ...
'' (1947) became the standard study of the largest naval battle in history.


Career

Woodward, starting out on the left politically, wanted to use history to explore dissent. He approached
W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up i ...
about writing about him, and thought of following his biography of Watson with one of
Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate of the Soc ...
. He picked Georgia politician Tom Watson, who in the 1890s was a
populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develope ...
leader focusing the anger and hatred of poor whites against the establishment, banks, railroads and businessmen. Watson in 1908 was the presidential candidate of the Populist Party, but this time was the leader in mobilizing the hatred of the same poor whites against blacks, and a promoter of lynching.


''The Strange Career of Jim Crow''

Woodward's most influential book was ''The Strange Career of Jim Crow'' (1955), which explained that segregation was a relatively late development and was not inevitable. After the Supreme Court's decision in ''
Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
'', in spring 1954, Woodward gave the Richards Lectures at the University of Virginia. The lectures were published in 1955 as ''The Strange Career of Jim Crow''. With Woodward in the audience in Montgomery, Alabama, in March 1965,
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
proclaimed the book "the historical bible of the Civil Rights Movement." It reached a large popular audience and helped shape the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Jim Crow laws, Woodward argued, were not part of the immediate aftermath of Reconstruction; they came later and were not inevitable. Following the
Compromise of 1877 The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Wormley Agreement or the Bargain of 1877, was an unwritten deal, informally arranged among members of the United States Congress, to settle the intensely disputed 1876 presidential election between Ruth ...
, into the 1880s there were localized informal practices of racial separation in some areas of society along with what he termed "forgotten alternatives" in others. Finally the 1890s saw white southerners "capitulate to racism" to create "legally prescribed, rigidly enforced, state-wide Jim Crowism."


''Origins of the New South, 1877–1913''

''Origins of the New South, 1877–1913'' was published in 1951 by
Louisiana State University Press The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...
as multivolume history of the South. It combined the Beardian theme of economic forces shaping history and the Faulknerian tone of tragedy and decline. He insisted on the discontinuity of the era and rejected both the romantic antebellum popular images of the
Lost Cause The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an American pseudohistorical negationist mythology that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. Fi ...
school and the overoptimistic business boosterism of the New South Creed. Sheldon Hackney, a Woodward student, hailed the book.


Appointments, teaching and awards

Woodward was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1958 and the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1959. Woodward taught at
Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...
from 1946 to 1961. He became Sterling Professor of History at
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...
from 1961 to 1977, where he taught both graduate students and undergraduates. He did much writing but little original research at Yale, frequently writing essays for such outlets as the ''
New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
''. He directed scores of PhD dissertations, including those by * John W. Blassingame, former chair of the African American studies program at Yale; * Daniel W. Crofts, former chair of the History Department at The College of New Jersey; *
James M. McPherson James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for '' Battle Cry of F ...
, Professor of History at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...
; *
Patricia Nelson Limerick Patricia Nelson Limerick (born May 17, 1951) is an American historian, author, lecturer and teacher, considered to be one of the leading historians of the American West. Early life and education Limerick is the daughter of Grant and Patricia Ne ...
, Professor of History at the
University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...
; * Michel Wayne, Professor of History at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
; *
Steven Hahn Steven Howard Hahn (born 1951) is Professor of History at New York University. Life Hahn was born on July 18, 1951, in New York City. Educated at the University of Rochester, where he worked with Eugene Genovese and Herbert Gutman, Hahn receiv ...
, Professor of History at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
; * John Herbert Roper, Richardson Chair of American History at
Emory & Henry College Emory & Henry College (E&H or Emory) is a private liberal arts college in Emory, Virginia. The campus comprises of Washington County, which is part of the Appalachian highlands of Southwest Virginia. Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College is ...
; * David L. Carlton, Professor of History at
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
; and * Barbara Fields, Professor of History at Columbia University. In 1974, the
United States House Committee on the Judiciary The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
asked Woodward for an historical study of misconduct in previous administrations and how the
Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
responded. Woodward led a group of fourteen historians, and they produced a 400-page report in less than four months, ''Responses of the Presidents to Charges of Misconduct''. In 1978 the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
selected Woodward for the
Jefferson Lecture The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is an honorary lecture series established in 1972 by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). According to the NEH, the Lecture is "the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished ...
, the federal government's highest honor for achievement in the
humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the time ...
. His lecture, entitled "The European Vision of America,"Jefferson Lecturers
at NEH Website (retrieved January 22, 2009).
was later incorporated into his book ''The Old World's New World.'' Woodward won the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had ma ...
in 1982 for '' Mary Chesnut's Civil War'', an edited version of
Mary Chesnut Mary Boykin Chesnut (née Miller) (March 31, 1823 – November 22, 1886) was an American author noted for a book published as her Civil War diary, a "vivid picture of a society in the throes of its life-and-death struggle."Woodward, C. Vann. "In ...
's
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...
diary. He won the
Bancroft Prize The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948, with a bequest from Frederic Bancroft, in his memory and that of his brother, ...
for ''Origins of the New South''.


Move to the Right

Peter Novick Peter Novick (July 26, 1934, Jersey City – February 17, 2012, Chicago) was an American historian who was Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He was best known for writing ''That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and th ...
says, "Vann Woodward was always very conflicted about the 'presentism' of his work. He alternated between denying it, qualifying it, and apologizing for it." British historian Michael O'Brien, the editor of Woodward's letters in 2013, says that by the 1970s
He became greatly troubled by the rise of the black power movement, disliked affirmative action, never came to grips with feminism, mistrusted what came to be known as "theory," and became a strong opponent of multiculturalism and "political correctness."
In 1969, as president of the
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...
, Woodward led the fight to defeat a proposal by New Left historians to politicize the organization. He wrote his daughter afterwards, "The preparations paid off and I had pretty well second-guessed the Rads on every turn." In 1975–6 Woodward led the unsuccessful fight at Yale to block the temporary appointment of Communist historian
Herbert Aptheker Herbert Aptheker (July 31, 1915 – March 17, 2003) was an American Marxist historian and political activist. He wrote more than 50 books, mostly in the fields of African-American history and general U.S. history, most notably, ''American Negro ...
to teach a course. Radicals denounced his actions but a joint committee of the
Organization of American Historians The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad inc ...
and the
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...
exonerated the process and found that there was no evidence that political criteria had been used. In 1987 he joined the conservative scholars who made up the National Association of Scholars, a group explicitly opposed to the academic Left. Woodward wrote a favorable review in the ''New York Review of Books'' of
Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them ''New York Times'' best-sellers. In 2012, D' ...
's ''Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus.'' It said that Duke University used racial criteria when it hired
John Hope Franklin John Hope Franklin (January 2, 1915 – March 25, 2009) was an American historian of the United States and former president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Histor ...
; Franklin and Woodward publicly feuded. Hackney says, "Woodward became an open critic of political correctness and in other ways appeared to have shifted his seat at the political table."


Death and legacy

C. Vann Woodward died December 17, 1999, in
Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a New England town, town in New Haven County, Connecticut, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant (Connecticut), Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 at the 2020 United ...
, at the age of 91. Woodward cautioned that the academicians had themselves abdicated their role as storytellers:
Professionals do well to apply the term "amateur" with caution to the historian outside their ranks. The word does have deprecatory and patronizing connotations that occasionally backfire. This is especially true of narrative history, which nonprofessionals have all but taken over. The gradual withering of the narrative impulse in favor of the analytical urge among professional academic historians has resulted in a virtual abdication of the oldest and most honored role of the historian, that of storyteller. Having abdicated... the professional is in a poor position to patronize amateurs who fulfill the needed function he has abandoned.
The
Southern Historical Association The Southern Historical Association is a professional academic organization of historians focusing on the history of the Southern United States. It was organized on November 2, 1934. Its objectives are the promotion of interest and research in Sout ...
has established the ''C. Vann Woodward Dissertation Prize'', awarded annually to the best dissertation on Southern history. There is a ''Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Chair of History'' at Yale; it is now held by southern historian Glenda Gilmore. (Peter was Woodward's son, who died at age 26 in 1969.) He was a Charter member of the
Fellowship of Southern Writers The Fellowship of Southern Writers is an American literary organization that celebrates the creative vitality of Southern writing as the mirror of a distinctive and cherished regional culture. Its fellowships and awards draw attention to outstandi ...
.


Works


Books


''Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel''
(1938) *
The Battle for Leyte Gulf
' (1947, new ed. 1965) *
Origins of the New South, 1877–1913
' (1951
borrow for 14 days
*''Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction'' (1951, rev. ed. 1991) *
The Strange Career of Jim Crow
'. (1st ed. February 1955; 2nd ed. August 1965; 3rd ed. NY:Oxford University Press, 1974).
borrow for 14 days''The Age of Reinterpretation''
(1961). pamphlet *
The Burden of Southern History
' (1955; 3rd ed. 1993) *
The Comparative Approach to American History
' (1968), editor *''American Counterpoint'' (1971). essays *''Mary Chesnut's Civil War'' (1981), editor.
Pulitzer prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had ma ...
. *''
Oxford History of the United States The Oxford History of the United States (1982–present) is an ongoing multi-volume narrative history of the United States published by Oxford University Press. Volumes Series overview Woodward editorship The series originated in the 1950s wit ...
'' (1982–2018), series editor. *''The Private Mary Chestnut: The Unpublished Civil War Diaries'' (1984) edited, with Elizabeth Muhlenfeld. * ''Thinking Back: The Perils of Writing History'' (Louisiana State University Press, 1986). memoirs * ''The Old World's New World'' (1991). lectures * ''The Letters of C. Vann Woodward''. edited by Michael O'Brien, (Yale University Press, 2013)


Major journal articles

*
Tom Watson and the Negro in Agrarian Politics
. ''Journal of Southern History'', Vol. 4, No. 1 (Feb., 1938), pp. 14–33. *
The Irony of Southern History
. ''Journal of Southern History'', Vol. 19, No. 1 (Feb., 1953), pp. 3–19. *
The Political Legacy of Reconstruction
. ''Journal of Negro Education'', Vol. 26, No. 3, The Negro Voter in the South (Summer, 1957), pp. 231–240. *
The Age of Reinterpretation
. ''American Historical Review'', Vol. 66, No. 1 (Oct., 1960), pp. 1–19. *
Seeds of Failure in Radical Race Policy
. ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'', Vol. 110, No. 1 (Feb. 18, 1966), pp. 1–9. *
History and the Third Culture
. ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Vol. 3, No. 2, Reappraisals (Apr., 1968), pp. 23–35. *
The Southern Ethic in a Puritan World
. ''William and Mary Quarterly'', Vol. 25, No. 3 (Jul., 1968), pp. 344–370. *
Clio With Soul
. ''Journal of American History'', Vol. 56, No. 1 (June, 1969), pp. 5–20. *
The Future of the Past
. ''American Historical Review'', Vol. 75, No. 3 (Feb., 1970), pp. 711–726. *
The Erosion of Academic Privileges and Immunities
. ''Daedalus'', Vol. 103, No. 4, (Fall, 1974), pp. 33–37. *
The Aging of America
. ''American Historical Review'', Vol. 82, No. 3 (Jun., 1977), pp. 583–594. *
The Fall of the American Adam
. ''Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences'', Vol. 35, No. 2 (Nov., 1981), pp. 26–34. *
Strange Career Critics: Long May they Persevere
. ''Journal of American History'', Vol. 75, No. 3 (Dec., 1988), pp. 857–868. *
Look Away, Look Away
. ''Journal of Southern History'', Vol. 59, No. 3 (Aug., 1993), pp. 487–504.


References


Further reading

* Boles, John B. and Bethany L. Johnson, eds. ''Origins of the New South Fifty Years Later'' (2003), articles by scholar
online review
* Cobb, James, ''C. Vann Woodward: America's Historian'' (2022). North Carolina Press.

by
Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African-American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstru ...
* Ferrell, Robert. "C. Vann Woodward" in ''Clio's Favorites: Leading Historians of the United States, 1945–2000.'' ed. by Robert Allen Rutland (2000) pp. 170–81 * Hackney, Sheldon. "Origins of the New South in Retrospect," ''Journal of Southern History'' (1972) 38#2 pp. 191–21
in JSTOR
* Hackney, Sheldon. "C. Vann Woodward: 13 November 1908 – 17 December 1999," ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' (2001) 145#2 pp. 233–24
in JSTOR
* Hackney, Sheldon. "C. Vann Woodward, Dissenter," ''Historically Speaking'' (2009) 10#1 pp. 31–3

* Kousser, J. Morgan and
James M. McPherson James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for '' Battle Cry of F ...
, eds. ''Religion, Race and Reconstruction: Essays in Honor of C. Vann Woodward'' (1982), festschrift of articles; also lists most of his Ph.D. students * Lerner, Mitchell, "Conquering the Hearts of the People: Lyndon Johnson, C. Vann Woodward, and 'The Irony of Southern History,'" ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 115 (Oct. 2011), 155–71. * Potter, David M. "C. Vann Woodward," in ''Pastmasters: Some Essays on American Historians,'' ed. Marcus Cunliffe and Robin W. Winks (1969). * Rabinowitz, Howard N. "More Than the Woodward Thesis: Assessing The Strange Career of Jim Crow," ''Journal of American History'' (1988) 75#3 pp. 842–85
in JSTOR
** Woodward, C. Vann. "Strange Career Critics: Long May They Persevere," ''Journal of American History'' (1988) 75#3 pp. 857–868. a reply to Rabinowit
in JSTOR
* Roper, John Herbert. ''C. Vann Woodward, Southerner'' (1987), biography * Roper, John Herbert, ed. ''C. Vann Woodward: A Southern Historian and His Critics'' (1997), essays about Woodward


External links


Woodward Papers at Yale
with short biography

fro
Oral Histories of the American South
24 December 1999 David Walsh on the ''
World Socialist Web Site The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is the website of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). It describes itself as an "online newspaper of the international Trotskyist movement". The WSWS publishes articles and analysi ...
''
''Who Speaks for the Negro'' Vanderbilt documentary website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, C. Vann 1908 births 1999 deaths Columbia University alumni Henderson State University alumni Vanderbilt University faculty Historians of the Southern United States Historians from Arkansas Historians of race relations Johns Hopkins University faculty Writers from Arkansas People from Cross County, Arkansas Presidents of the American Historical Association Pulitzer Prize for History winners Bancroft Prize winners University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Yale University faculty Georgia Tech faculty Historians of the American Civil War 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers People from Morrilton, Arkansas People from Arkadelphia, Arkansas Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History Yale Sterling Professors 20th-century American male writers Fulbright alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters