Lauren Thompson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of History

Samuel Hedding Deneen and Charles Samuel Deneen Memorial Professorship of Early American History

Director of Ethnic Studies & Gender Studies

Co-coordinator of University 101

Office: Carnegie Hall 106

Phone: (618) 537-6925

Education

Ph.D., History, Florida State University (2015)

M.A., History, West Virginia University (2010)

B.A., History, Marietta College (2007)

 

Teaching Interests

Civil War Era

African-American History

Race & Ethnicity

U.S. Immigration

Labor History

Social Movements

Sports History

U.S. Military History

Public History

 

Publications

Friendly Enemies: Soldier Fraternization throughout the American Civil War, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020

“The Rights, Causes, and Necessity for Secession: The Interplay of Race, Class, and Politics in Antebellum Florida” in A Forgotten Front: Florida during the Civil War Era, Edited by Seth Weitz and Jonathan Shepard, Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2018

“Escaping the Mechanism: Soldier Fraternization during the Petersburg Campaign” Civil War History, December 2017, Vol. 63, No. 4

Teaching Philosophy

History is messy. I like to teach the history that “we never learned in high school.” It is not easy, but I believe we need to embrace the past – all of it – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Through this approach, I hope to empower my students and foster their journey in becoming educated citizens. I implement this vision through active learning, open-ended discussion, and the opportunity to think critically. Additionally, I call upon examples from local history and students’ personal experiences to make the past more relatable. I teach my courses through a social, or “bottom up,” lens to show how ordinary people caused, shaped, and reacted to major historical events. By deconstructing popular generalizations and complicating the broader narrative, students can empathize with those who are different from them. It is my hope, as they move on into their careers, my students continue to embrace nuances in the human experience.

Awards

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award (2019)

Faculty of the Year Nominee, Marietta College

Florida State University Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award Nominee

Joe M. Richardson Outstanding Teaching Award Recipient

Matthew B. Ridgway Research Grant, U.S. Military History Institute, Army War College

Andrew Mellon Fellowship, Virginia Historical Society

Ermine M. Owenby Travel Award, Florida State University

Leitch Wright Jr. Research Award

Regina Hale Canaga Graduate Fellowship, West Virginia University

 

Organizations & Memberships

Society of Civil War Historians

Organization of American Historians

Southern Historical Association

American Historical Association

Phi Alpha Theta