Very little is known about the lives of local 19th-century blacks. Americans and their local communities in 1860 and other comparison years. Students would assist in describing, mapping, and analyzing an early local ethnic cemetery and its gravemarkers.
Current project examines the role of working memory in generating inferences during reading.
Computer and foreign language expertise would be especially useful but they are not essential. I am investigating the roots of public speaking. One way I am exploring the western idea of good speech is through American Indian Oratory. We will investigate the different ways of speaking in settings such as Congress in the late 1800s. We will be searching for American Indian speeches and identifying patterns of thought and organization in them.