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About Beth English

NBN Episodes hosted by Beth:

American Studies July 10, 2020

Colonial Migrants at the Heart of Empire

Puerto Rican Workers on U.S. Farms

Ismael Garcia-Colon

Hosted by Beth English
Colonial Migrants at the Heart of Empire: Puerto Rican Workers on U.S. Farms (University of California Press, 2020) is the first in-depth look at the experiences of Puerto Rican migrant …
American South June 24, 2020

The Southern Key

Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s

Michael Goldfield

Hosted by Beth English
The golden key to understanding the last 75 years of American political development, the eminent labor relations scholar Michael Goldfield argues, lies in the contests between labor and capital in …
American South April 15, 2020

Red, Black, White

The Alabama Communist Party, 1930–1950

Mary Stanton

Hosted by Beth English
Mary Stanton's Red, Black, White: The Alabama Communist Party, 1930–1950 (University of Georgia Press, 2019) is the first narrative history of the American communist movement in the South since Robin …
American South April 3, 2020

Knocking on Labor’s Door

Union Organizing in the 1970s and the Roots of a New Economic Divide

Lane Windham

Hosted by Beth English
Lane Windham, Associate Director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University, discusses her book, Knocking on Labor’s Door: Union Organizing in the 1970s and …
American South March 27, 2020

To Live Here, You Have to Fight

How Women Led Appalachian Movements for Social Justice

Jessica Wilkerson

Hosted by Beth English
Jessica Wilkerson, Assistant Professor of History and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi, discusses her book, To Live Here, You Have to Fight: How Women Led Appalachian Movements for …
American South March 20, 2020

From South Texas to the Nation

The Exploitation of Mexican Labor in the Twentieth Century

John Weber

Hosted by Beth English
John Weber, Assistant Professor of History at Old Dominion University, discusses his book, From South Texas to the Nation: The Exploitation of Mexican Labor in the Twentieth Century (University of …
American South March 13, 2020

Women’s Diaries and Letters of the South

Melissa Walker and Giselle Roberts

Hosted by Beth English
Professors Melissa Walker of Converse College and Giselle Roberts of Australia’s La Trobe University, editors of the Women’s Diaries and Letters of the South series, discuss the field of documentary …
American South February 28, 2020

Baptized in PCBs

Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town

Ellen Griffith Spears

Hosted by Beth English
Professor Ellen Griffith Spears of the University of Alabama, author of Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town (University of North Carolina Press, 2016) discusses the …
American South February 26, 2020

Politics of the Pantry

Housewives, Food, and Consumer Protest in Twentieth-Century America

Emily E. LB. Twarog

Hosted by Beth English
The history of women's political involvement has focused heavily on electoral politics, but throughout the twentieth century women engaged in grassroots activism when they found it increasingly challenging to feed …
American South February 21, 2020

The Hamlet Fire

A Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives

Bryant Simon

Hosted by Beth English
Bryant Simon, Professor of History at Temple University, discusses his new book, The Hamlet Fire: A Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives (The New Press, 2017), and …
American South February 14, 2020

Denmark Vesey’s Garden

Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy

Blain Roberts and Ethan J. Kytle

Hosted by Beth English
Blain Roberts and Ethan J. Kytle, Professors of History at California State University—Fresno, discuss their co-authored book, Denmark Vesey’s Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy (The …
American South February 7, 2020

Pageants, Parlors, and Pretty Women

Race and Beauty in the Twentieth-Century South

Blain Roberts

Hosted by Beth English
Professor Blain Roberts of California State University, Fresno, talks about intersections of race, identity, and memory in the South in a wide-ranging discussion that starts in the segregated beauty parlors …
American South January 31, 2020

Disaster Citizenship

Survivors, Solidarity, and Power in the Progressive Era

Jacob Remes

Hosted by Beth English
Professor Jacob Remes of SUNY Empire State College discusses his book, Disaster Citizenship: Survivors, Solidarity, and Power in the Progressive Era (University of Illinois Press, 2015), and challenges prevailing assumptions …
American South January 24, 2020

Standing Their Ground

Small Farmers in North Carolina Since the Civil War

Adrienne Petty

Hosted by Beth English
Professor Adrienne Petty discusses her book, Standing Their Ground: Small Farmers in North Carolina Since the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2013), about the black and white farmers in the …
American South January 17, 2020

Hillbilly Hellraisers

Federal Power and Populist Defiance in the Ozarks

Blake Perkins

Hosted by Beth English
Blake Perkins, assistant professor of history at Williams Baptist College, discusses his new book, Hillbilly Hellraisers: Federal Power and Populist Defiance in the Ozarks (University of Illinois Press, 2017), regional …
American South January 14, 2020

Sisters and Rebels

A Struggle for the Soul of America

Jacquelyn Dowd Hall

Hosted by Beth English
Descendants of a prominent slaveholding family, Elizabeth, Grace, and Katharine Lumpkin grew up in a culture of white supremacy. But while Elizabeth remained a lifelong believer, her younger sisters chose …
American South January 10, 2020

Reform or Repression

Organizing America's Anti-Union Movement

Chad Pearson

Hosted by Beth English
Professor Chad Pearson of Collin College, author of Reform or Repression: Organizing America's Anti-Union Movement (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) traces the roots of modern anti-unionism in the U.S. to …
American South January 3, 2020

Masterless Men

Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South

Keri Leigh Merritt

Hosted by Beth English
Keri Leigh Merritt discusses her book, Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and intersections of race, class, politics, and slavery in the …
American South December 27, 2019

Margaret Bourke-White and the Dawn of Apartheid

Alex Lichtenstein and Rick Halpern

Hosted by Beth English
Alex Lichtenstein, Associate Professor of History at Indiana University, discusses his new book with co-author Rick Halpern, Margaret Bourke-White and the Dawn of Apartheid (Indiana University Press, 2016) photojournalism, and …
American South December 20, 2019

Chained in Silence

Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South

Talitha LeFlouria

Hosted by Beth English
Professor Talitha LeFlouria, a fellow at the Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia, discusses her book, Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New …
American South December 13, 2019

Dollars for Dixie

Business and the Transformation of Conservatism in the Twentieth Century

Katherine Rye Jewell

Hosted by Beth English
Katherine Rye Jewell, Assistant Professor of History at Fitchburg State University, discusses her book, Dollars for Dixie: Business and the Transformation of Conservatism in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press …
American South December 6, 2019

Reconsidering Southern Labor History

Race, Class, and Power

Matthew Hild and Keri Leigh Merritt

Hosted by Beth English
Matthew Hild and Keri Leigh Merritt discuss their new edited volume, Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, and Power (University Press of Florida, 2018), the nexus of race, class and …
American South November 29, 2019

The Fruits of Their Labor

Atlantic Coast Farmworkers and the Making of Migrant Poverty, 1870-1945

Cindy Hahamovitch

Hosted by Beth English
Today Professor Cindy Hahamovitch of the University of Georgia discusses her research connecting the global histories of 19th-century indentured servants and today's guestworkers. In 1933 Congress granted American laborers the …
American South November 22, 2019

Striking Beauties

Women Apparel Workers in the U.S. South, 1930-2000

Michelle Haberland

Hosted by Beth English
Professor Michelle Haberland of Georgia Southern University, author of Striking Beauties: Women Apparel Workers in the U.S. South (University of Georgia Press, 2015), discusses the dynamics of gender, class, race …