Norrell, Robert J. 1952–

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Norrell, Robert J. 1952–

(Robert Jefferson Norrell)

PERSONAL:

Born February 16, 1952, in Huntsville, AL; son of Robert D. (a farmer) and Mary Ann (a teacher) Norrell; married Kelly Dowe (a writer), August 6, 1977; children: Katie, Leila, Jay, Eliza Jane. Education: University of Virginia, B.A., 1974, M.A., 1978, Ph.D., 1983. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Presbyterian.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of History, University of Tennessee, 915 Volunteer Blvd., 6th Fl., Dunford Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996-4065; fax: 865-974-3915. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Historian, educator, and writer. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, associate professor, 1986-98; University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Bernadotte Schmitt Chair of Excellence and professor of history in the Department of History, beginning 1998.

MEMBER:

Organization of American Historians, Southern Historical Association (Program Committee Chair, 1995, Membership Committee, 1997, Chair, 1999; Nominating Committee Chair, 1996, 1997).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Mellon Research Fellowship in American History, University of Cambridge, 1984-85; Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, 1986; Booker T. Washington Legacy Prize, Heartland Institute, 2006, for his work on the Alabama educator.

WRITINGS:

Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee, Knopf (New York, NY), 1985, revised edition published as Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee, with a New Concluding Chapter by the Author, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, NC), 1998.

A Promising Field: Engineering at Alabama, 1837-1987, University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1990.

James Bowron: The Autobiography of a New South Industrialist, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, NC), 1991.

(Editor, with Harry J. Knopke and Ronald W. Rogers) Opening Doors: Perspectives on Race Relations in Contemporary America, University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1991.

The Alabama Story: State History & Geography, Yellowhammer Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1993.

The Making of Modern Alabama: State History and Geography, Yellowhammer Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1993.

We Want Jobs! A Story of the Great Depression, illustrations by Jan Naimo Jones, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1993.

The Alabama Journey: State History and Geography (fourth-grade textbook), Yellowhammer Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1998.

The House I Live In: Race in the American Century, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to books, including The Italian Americans Through the Generations, edited by Rocco Caporale, American Italian Historical Association, 1986; New Directions in Civil Rights Studies, University of Virginia Press, 1991; Twentieth-Century Southern Labor History, edited by Robert H. Zieger, University of Tennessee Press, 1991; Booker T. Washington and Black Progress: Up from Slavery 100 Years Later, edited by W. Fitzhugh Brundage, University Press of Florida, 2003; and Reconstructing Societies in the Aftermath of War: Memory, Identity, and Reconstruction, edited by Flavia Brizio-Skov, Bordighera Press, 2004. Also author of the introduction to the reissue of The New South Creed, by Paul M. Gaston, NewSouth Books, 2002.

Contributor to professional journals, including South Atlantic Quarterly, Southern Humanities Review, Alabama Review, Journal of American History, Historical Journal, Journal of Southern History, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Cumberland Law Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

Robert J. Norrell once told CA: "I write primarily about what I know most—the history of the South and Alabama—but I have tried to do it in a variety of ways. I've written three academic books and helped edit another. Now, I write history textbooks for younger audiences. I have found this both rewarding and a real test of my abilities."

The author's first book, Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee, was published in 1985. A revised edition was published in 1998 as Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee, with a New Concluding Chapter by the Author. In this book, the author takes a historical look at race relations from the 1870s to the 1970s. Focusing on Tuskegee, Alabama, Norrell begins by writing about compromises made in race relations beginning with the 1870s and 1880s and "skillfully describes the increasing black activism in Tuskegee and surrounding Macon County over the next hundred years," noted David J. Garrow in a review for the Nation.

For James Bowron: The Autobiography of a New South Industrialist, Norrell collects the extensive diaries of Bowron to tell the story of the industrialist who cofounded the Southern States Coal, Iron and Land Company and was also an executive with the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company (TCI). "Norrell's skillful edition of Bowron's diary and autobiography opens a revealing window on the life and times of a nineteenth-century southern businessman," wrote Business History Review contributor Walter B. Weare.

In his 2005 book, The House I Live In: Race in the American Century, Norrell examines race relations in the United States over a 150-year period, from the time of Reconstruction following the Civil War through the entire twentieth century. Examining various ideologies, from white supremacy to black nationalism, Norrell explores how they have shaped race relations in America. The author discusses a wide variety of topics and issues, including the civil rights movement, which he dates back to the 1930s, and the Cold War, which Norrell states was not helpful in race relations or the civil rights movement, a view contrary to many other historians' opinions. Norrell also analyzes the role the media and popular culture have played in race relations. Brad Hooper, writing in Booklist, called The House I Live In a "scholarly yet vital book." Library Journal contributor Edward G. McCormack commented that the author "bring[s] a broadened perspective to our understanding of American race relations."