John Frederick Bell, Ph.D.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

Education

Ph.D., Harvard University

M.A., Harvard University

B.A., The College of William and Mary

Classes Taught at Assumption

The African American Dream

The Civil War and Reconstruction in the U.S. Fighting Slavery, Then and Now

Historical Methods

History of the United States Since 1877

History of the United States to 1877

What inspired you to become a history professor?

Well, I can’t sing or dance. Seriously, though, being a history professor combines all the things I like most: teaching, mentoring, researching, and writing. I’m passionate about learning from the past, from other scholars, and from my students.

What is your favorite course to teach and why?

I just piloted a course about American slavery and its legacies. The class examined the 250+ years of human bondage in North America as well as what one scholar calls the “afterlife” of slavery – the ways the institution continues to haunt American life in the form of racism and inequality.

What is the significance of the license plate in your photo?

I love the look I get when I tell people I’m originally from Delaware. They have no idea what to say. It’s as if I told them I collect stamps.

What’s something people might be surprised to know about you?

I’ve never seen Gone with the Wind. As someone who studies the Civil War era, I really should watch it. But maybe for that same reason, I just can’t.

Who is your historical doppelganger?

Vincent Van Gogh! People say I look just like him, could be our shared red hair. Our personalities are quite different, but I love his work. His painting, Wheat Field with Cypresses, is my Zoom background.

Where would you be and what would you be doing if you weren’t teaching?

In college, I considered applying to be a “Hotdogger” and drive the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. That has less appeal now. I worked at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC, between college and graduate school. It was an amazing experience. But I love what I do now, so it’s hard to imagine doing anything else.

Can you tell us more about the work you did at the Archives?

The office where I worked oversees how federal agencies create and preserve classified national security information. My work mostly involved coordinating the declassification of formerly secret records from the Cold War.

What’s your latest research?

I’m about to publish a book about the first African Americans to attend predominantly white colleges, beginning in the 1830s. The book is called Degrees of Equality because I emphasize the difference between Black students getting an equal chance at education and their being respected as equals on campus. Unfortunately, my research shows that gap only widened as time went on.

What is one thing you hope students take away from your classes?

The way things are is not the way they always have been, and the way things have been is not the way they have to be.

How do you keep history interesting for your students?

Most people think history is about memorizing names, events, and dates. But that’s not really what historians do. We interpret the past to try and understand why things happened and draw meaning from them. When you teach it like that, I find students are a lot more receptive.