Professor Behrend is a scholar of the Reconstruction era.
Dr. Justin Behrend, professor of history and graduate program director, has been a member of the SUNY Geneseo faculty since 2007. His research interests include nineteenth-century U.S. history, African American history, Atlantic World slavery, and Southern history. Dr. Behrend is the author of Reconstructing Democracy: Black Grassroots Politics in the Deep South after the Civil War and articles on slave rebellions, emancipation, and Reconstruction. He was the department chair from 2017 to 2022. He is currently the James & Julia Lockhart Endowed Professor.
Office Hours
TBD
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Ph.D. in History, Northwestern University
Publications
Reconstructing Democracy: Black Grassroots Politics in the Deep South after the Civil War (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2015)
“When Neighbors Turn against Neighbors: Irregular Warfare and the Crisis of Democracy in the Civil War Era,” in Beyond Freedom: Disrupting the History of Emancipation, ed. David W. Blight and James Downs (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2017), 90-103.
“Facts, Memories, and History: John R. Lynch and the Memory of Reconstruction in the Age of Jim Crow” in Remembering Reconstruction: Struggles Over the Meaning of America's Most Turbulent Era, edited by Carole Emberton and Bruce E. Baker (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2017), 84-108.
"Fear of Reenslavement: Black Political Mobilization in Response to the Waning of Reconstruction" in Rethinking American Emancipation: Legacies of Slavery and the Quest for Black Freedom, edited by William A. Link and James J. Broomall (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 146-163.
"Black Political Mobilization and the Spatial Transformation of Natchez" in Confederate Cities: The Urban South During the Civil Era, edited by Andrew L. Slap and Frank Towers (University of Chicago Press, 2015), 190-214.
"Facts and Memories: John R. Lynch and the Revising of Reconstruction History in the Era of Jim Crow," Journal of African American History 97, no. 4 (Fall 2012): 427-448.
"Rumors of Revolt," New York Times, September 15, 2011.
"Rebellious Talk and Conspiratorial Plots: The Making of a Slave Insurrection in Civil War Natchez," Journal of Southern History 77, no. 1 (February 2011): 17-52.
More About Me
Research Interests
- Nineteenth Century U.S.
- African American
- Civil War and Emancipation
Awards and Honors
- James & Julia Lockhart Endowed Professor, 2024-2027
- McLemore Prize for best book in Mississippi History, 2016
- Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2013
Websites
Classes
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HIST 263: Civil War&Recon Era 1830-1890
A study of the causes and course of the American Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction with an emphasis on the political and cultural social aspects and implications. Primary interest will be in examining how the problem of slavery led to war and how emancipation shaped post-war America. Topics include slavery, abolitionism, partisan politics, sectionalism, soldiering, freedom and citizenship, the establishment of a free labor economy, the foundations of a biracial democracy, terrorism, the role of violence in politics, and contested memories of the war.
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HIST 601: Approaches to History
This course examines different approaches to the discipline of history. Readings, assignments, and discussions will explore historical practices as a form of knowledge production. We will consider topics such as how humans have derived meaning from the past, why narratives of progress are enticing, what it means to think like a historian, and the limits of historical methodologies. In addition to philosophical approaches to historical knowledge and sources, we will examine professional expectations in the discipline. This includes ethical standards as well as obligations and responsibilities of public engagement.
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WRTG 105: Wrtg: Underground Railroad
This course lays the foundation for students to participate insightfully in both written and oral academic conversations. The course focuses on three modes of written and oral communication: communication as an ongoing persuasive dialogue with multiple audiences, communication with a reflective self, and communication with a dynamic evolving text. The course also introduces elements of information literacy and critical thinking needed to develop and evaluate academic conversation. Writing Seminar is typically taken by new students in their first two semesters, often as the introduction to general education, to our library, and to academic support services as sites of collaboration rather than remediation. As many new students' only seminar-style class, Writing Seminar can help lay the foundations of not only academic but also social success.