Charles J. Elmore is an American scholar and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

historian from

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

.Dr. Charles J. Elmore
, Savannah State University, 1998-1999.

Early background

Elmore, who was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia. He attended St. Pius X School, earned a BS Degree in biology and chemistry from

Savannah State College Savannah State University (SSU) is a public historically black university in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is the oldest historically black public university in the state. The university is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College ...

, an MA degree in journalism and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Higher Education Administration from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

Career

Elmore taught

Savannah State University Savannah State University (SSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is the oldest historically black public university in the state. Th ...

for more than 35 years, until his retirement in 2007.

Savannah State University

Under his leadership, Savannah State University's department of mass communications was accredited in May 2007 by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) joining the University of Georgia in Athens as the only other mass communication programs in the state of Georgia with that accreditation. In 2013, he came out of retirement to lead the mass communications department at Savannah State University to ACEJMC reaccreditation from 2013 to 2019. He was a tenured professor of Humanities and the head of the Mass Communications Department. He also received the 1999 Governors Award in the Humanities from

Roy Barnes Roy Eugene Barnes (born March 11, 1948)Cook, James F. (2005). ''The Governors of Georgia, 1754-2004, 3rd Edition, Revised and Expanded.'' Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. is an American attorney and politician who served as the 80th governo ...

, then governor of Georgia. In 1997–98 Elmore was named Savannah State University's Regents Distinguished Professor of Teaching and Learning. He was awarded the Richard R. Wright Award of Excellence - the highest award given by Savannah State University - in November 2015. In February 2016, he was named to the inaugural Hall of Fame of Savannah State University's Southern Regional Press Institute in its 66th year of existence.

Jazz history

Elmore interest in

led him to collect recordings, research and write more than twenty articles on the history of this musical art form in Savannah.

Beach Institute Lecture Series

In 2008, he was a guest speaker at the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation's Beach Institute Lecture Series. His presentations featured subjects such as the ''Free Blacks in Savannah'' and the History of Savannah's ''Beach Historic Neighborhood''.

Published books and articles

Elmore is the author of several historical monographs and books. They include: * ''Athletic Saga of Savannah State College'' (1992). * ''Richard R. Wright, Sr., at GSIC, 1891-1921 – A Protean Force for the Social Uplift and Higher Education of Black Americans'' (1996). * ''An Historical Guide to Laurel Grove Cemetery South'' (1998). * ''All That Savannah Jazz…From Brass Bands, Vaudeville, to Rhythm and Blues'' (1999, Savannah State University). * ''The History of the

First Bryan Baptist Church First Bryan Baptist Church is an African-American church that was organized in Savannah, Georgia, by Andrew Bryan in 1788. Considered to be the Mother Church of Black Baptists, the site was purchased in 1793 by Bryan, a former slave who had ...

– 1788-2001: Oldest Continuous Black Baptist Church in America'' (July 2002). * ''General Hunter’s Proclamation: The Quest for African American Freedom Before and During the Civil War'', (June 2002 - National Park Service - Eastern National). * ''Savannah, Georgia'' (March 2002, Arcadia Publishing – Black America Series). *''So Great A Cloud of Witnesses: The History of Butler Memorial Presbyterian Church'' (December 2006), Savannah, Georgia. *''Tell Them We are rising - The History of Savannah State University 1890-2015'' (2015, Savannah State University). Elmore has written more than fifty articles in refereed and non-refereed journals including the ''Georgia Historical Quarterly'', ''Journal of Higher Education'' and the ''

New Georgia Encyclopedia The ''New Georgia Encyclopedia'' (NGE) is a web-based encyclopedia containing over 2,000 articles about the state of Georgia. It is a program of Georgia Humanities (GH), in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System ...

'' (online edition). His work has also been cited in the ''Washington Post'', ''Savannah Morning News'', and the ''Atlanta Journal Constitution''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elmore, Charles Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Savannah State Tigers and Lady Tigers athletic directors Savannah State University alumni Savannah State University faculty University of Michigan School of Education alumni Writers from Savannah, Georgia African-American college athletic directors in the United States Historians from Georgia (U.S. state) 21st-century American male writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American male writers