Dr. Larry Knight
Professor of History
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I grew up as a native army brat and spent fully half of my elementary school years in Asia and Europe. As a nation we were in the midst of the Cold War, and, like my fellow Americans abroad, we were on the front lines of that war. Like the rest of my little cold warriors, I could not wait to get back to "the states." Wherever we were and whatever we were doing (and we saw some beautiful territory) nothing could match the good old USA. Those formative years away from "home" convinced me that there was no place on earth like America and certainly played a part in my love of history. Before I was old enough to articulate the idea, my early experiences also convinced me that America was, as stated by Presidents Lincoln and FDR (among many others), the last and best hope of freedom on this earth. I hope I can pass that love of freedom on to my students if I pass on nothing else. I teach a variety of class, but my specialty is Texas, and though not a native Texan, I’ve come to see Texas as I do the U.S., as a special place and one to which I owe both love and loyalty.
Dr. Dean Ferguson
Professor of History
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With apologies to Willie Dixon and Howlin’ Wolf, “I am a nightsoil man.” [Repeat.] “I am a nightsoil man.” As a student of the “wretched of the earth,” to borrow from Frantz Fanon, I have been most interested in those who cleaned latrines, scavenged from trash heaps, labored as porters and rickshaw men, peddled second hand clothes or otherwise fulfilled roles in early modern European cities, and across the modern world, which earned them little but scorn. As a historian, I see my role as akin to a scavenger, searching for scraps, bits and pieces of evidence of forgotten people, cast into the realm of the abject with the emergence of the modern capitalist system.
As a child of missionary parents, I lived in Burundi, Africa until age 18 before returning to university in the United States. An inspiring seventh-grade teacher—shout out to Nancy Proctor Grimes—shared her love of history with me and I have been hooked since. After a detour as a high school history teacher in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, I went to Purdue University to study under James R. Farr, a specialist in early modern France. In 1998, Texas A&M University—Kingsville offered me a position. And, as they say, (whoever they are) the rest is history.
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IT CONSULTANT, WEB DESIGNER, EDITOR
MAMADEE M. KOROMAH
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-KINGSVILLE
Mamadee Koromah Is a product of the Greater Houston area, was born in Guinea, Conakry (West Africa) and raised in Houston, Texas. He is currently in his third year at TAMUK as a Computer Information System Major and a Computer Science Minor. Koromah is also a student working for Port Isabel Logistic Offshore Terminal Seasonally. He received the Electronic Data Processing Scholarship and Glenda & Tom Best Scholarship and Reliant Energy Scholarship. He can be contacted via email at: Mamadee.koromah@gmail.com
Prospective authors may send article inquiries to:
Dr. Larry Knight kflpk00@tamuk.edu
