2009 is the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Naturally, historians are thrilled. But what about their discipline? Why and how might Lincoln matter to English studies? In this article, the authors reflect on Lincoln and his influence on English studies. They argue that Lincoln has played or can play an important role in the college English…

Focuses on women who practiced and wrote about medicine in nineteenth-century United States. Argues that the writing of women scientists complicates present understanding of the relations of gender, science, and writing as it presents in the discourse of medicine a variety of gendered positions rather than a univocal performance of patriarchal…

Taps research in American studies to learn more about rhetoric and writing instruction in post-Revolutionary America. Merges the separate (and gendered) histories of early 19th-century American rhetoric, breaking down the separate spheres in contemporary historical and literary scholarship. Examines civic rhetoric found in texts that represent…

Summarizes recent theorists' explorations of "whiteness" and discusses what the author sees as the difficulties that can occur when scholars attempt to incorporate these analyses into classroom lectures and discussions. Offers tentative suggestions for alternative approaches that investigate whiteness while deconstructing race. (TB)

Traces the history of consumerism, advertising, and their impact on women from 1890 to 1920. (DD)

Nineteenth century consciousness is traced to demonstrate a public recognition of corpoatization of education through Willa Cather novels, which rely on the rhetoric of frontiers to promote university education within a democratic ethos. It is argued that a previously democratic stage of the university, uncontaminated by the profit motive of…

Examines the pedagogy of African-American elocutionist Hallie Quinn Brown (1845-1949), professor of elocution at Wilberforce University from 1893 to 1923, as it addresses pedagogical issues still important today, such as how rhetorical instruction should address the needs of those who have a different linguistic heritage and culture. (TB)

The author describes an undergraduate course she taught on "Representations of Slavery." In particular, she explains how the course involved studying an historic site on her university's campus: the former slave plantation of leading antebellum racist John C. Calhoun. She also analyzes how her school represents the site on its Web pages. (Contains…

Rehearses some 20th-century narratives as they have appeared in United States history and as they have been represented in African-American literature. Suggests that some of these narratives are insufficiently critical in their construction of stereotypes or in their over-romanticized notions of racial memory, which mask the complications of color…

Looks at the use of the term "nigger" in "Huckleberry Finn" as central to the text. Regards the novel as a kind of meditation on the word "nigger" and as an attempt by Twain to explore the construction and maintenance of racial identity. Examines the present historical and pedagogical moment as part of the reception…

Argues that the myth of the self-made man commits a fundamental error by downplaying the importance of social definition and equating masculine growth with an escape from the boundaries of origins (race, class, sex) and institutions. Discusses the myth in terms of its history and writing pedagogies employed in some classrooms. (TB)