Stan Deaton
Stan Deaton is the Dr. Elaine B. Andrews Distinguished Historian at the Georgia Historical Society, an endowed position created by Dr. Victor Andrews. He has worked at the Georgia Historical Society since 1998. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Florida, a Masters in history from the University of Georgia, and Bachelors degree in journalism from the Grady School at the University of Georgia. He is the Emmy-winning writer and host of Today in Georgia History, jointly produced for TV and radio by GHS and Georgia Public Broadcasting. At the Georgia Historical Society Deaton is a public historian, speaker, writer, teacher, and lecturer. He produces videos, writes a blog, and records podcasts that are all available at "Off the Deaton Path," speaks to groups across the country on a variety of subjects, serves as managing editor for the Georgia Historical Quarterly, recruits materials for the GHS Research Center; leads teacher training workshops; writes historical markers; conducts oral history interviews; helps write grants; assists with fund raising; writes newspaper editorials and is regularly interviewed by broadcast and print media on a variety of subjects related to history in the news.
FEATURED LECTURE
After 100 Years, It's Still No Man's Land: What World War I Means Today and Why it Still Matters
OAH Lectures by Stan Deaton
Funding for the humanities is always being cut, while funding for science and math always goes up. Why? Why aren’t the arts—which give our lives meaning and beauty—as important as the sciences? This presentation explores why history is as important as science in preparing the next generation for leadership in the 21st century.
37 million people were killed or wounded in World War I. Yet virtually no one today gives it a second thought or understands its importance in creating the world we live in now. After 100 years, the Great War still haunts us, and this program explains why.
Thomas Jefferson’s memorial stands in Washington, his home Monticello is visited by millions each year, and his words in the Declaration still challenge us. But it was his nemesis Alexander Hamilton who created the world in which we live today, for better or worse. This presentation examines the man Jefferson called a “host unto himself” and his ongoing legacy.
Confederate symbols and what they mean have dominated American political and cultural life over the past decade. Why? This presentation examines the origins of the Confederacy and the Lost Cause, where these monuments came from, and what they mean now.
Voting rights have become an increasingly partisan battleground in the United States. This program examines the founding document at the heart of the American experiment of self-government—and the dramatic inclusions and omissions that would have centuries-long repercussions.
Public historians are often asked, “If slavery ended more than 150 years ago, how can it possibly still have meaning today?” This presentation examines the long legacy of the end of slavery, emancipation, the missed opportunity of the Reconstruction period, and the rise of Jim Crow.
What is history, and why is it often controversial? Is history a set of facts or an interpretation of those facts? Historians say that “the past never changes but history does,” but what does that mean? This presentation explores the relationship between history and memory, and why all history is revisionist history.