Fleming Lecture Series
When Prof. George Rable of the žŸ of Alabama delivered the 2014 Fleming Lecture Series on March 12 and 13, the occasion was notable for a number of reasons. Prof. Rable’s series of lectures, under the overall heading “Damn Yankees! Hatred and Defiance in the Confederate South,” dealt colorfully and persuasively with the origins of North-South mistrust and the Southern resentment of the “Barbarous Enemy;” attitudes that he traced back to the early years of the Civil War and even earlier. The 2014 lectures marked the 75th occasion of the Fleming Lectures, in an almost unbroken string that goes back to the series’ inauguration in 1937. Just as noteworthy, Prof. Rable’s lectures marked the first time the Fleming Lectures were delivered by a graduate of LSU’s own doctoral program in History.
The Fleming Lecture series was established in 1936 and is named in memory of Walter Lynwood Fleming, a former professor of history at LSU who distinguished himself as a scholar of the Reconstruction period. In three quarters of a century since their founding, the Lectures have helped revise many of the interpretations held by historians in the 1930s, including those of Professor Fleming, on the evils of the Reconstruction era. Not without irony, then, the lectures named in his memory have come to testify to the changing nature of the southern past and southern history.
Fleming Lecturers have included some of the most noteworthy names in American and Southern history. Following is a list, in reverse chronological order, tracing this highly distinguished occasion back to its origins
The 83rd Fleming Lecture Series will be delivered by Dr. Mia Bay, Professor of History at the žŸ of Pennsylvania, on March 24-25, 2026. Professor Bay will give her opening lecture on Tuesday March 24 at 7:00 pm. Her second two lectures will follow on Wednesday March 25 from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm and from 2:00-3:30 pm. All lectures will take place in Hill Memorial Library.
82nd Series, 2025:
Laura Edwards
Princeton žŸ
81st Series, 2024:
Brenda Stevenson
Oxford žŸ
and UCLA
80th Series, 2022:
Daniel Usner
Vanderbilt žŸ
79th Series, 2021:
Glenda Gilmore
Yale žŸ
78th Series, 2020:
Bill Link
žŸ of Florida
77th Series, 2018:
Edward L. Ayers
žŸ of Virginia
76th Series, 2016:
Peter Onuf
žŸ of Virginia
75th Series, 2015:
Nancy MacLean
Duke žŸ
74th Series, 2014:
George C. Rable
žŸ of Alabama
73rd Series, 2013:
James Oakes
City žŸ of New York
72nd Series, 2012:
Catherine Clinton,
Queen’s žŸ, Belfast
71st Series, 2011:
John Shelton Reed,
žŸ of North Carolina
70th Series, 2009:
Thomas C. Holt,
žŸ of Chicago
69th Series, 2007:
Michael Perman,
žŸ of Illinois at Chicago
68th Series, 2006:
William W. Freehling,
žŸ of Kentucky
67th Series, 2005:
Stanley L. Engerman,
žŸ of Rochester
66th Series, 2004:
Pete Daniel,
Smithsonian Institution
65th Series, 2003:
Karen Ordahl Kupperman,
New York žŸ
64th Series, 2002:
David Levering Lewis,
Rutgers žŸ
63d Series, 2001:
Robert William Fogel,
žŸ of Chicago
62d Series, 2000:
Peter Kolchin,
žŸ of Delaware
61st Series, 1999:
Michael F. Holt,
žŸ of Virginia
60th Series, 1998:
Fred Colby Hobson, Jr.,
žŸ of North Carolina
59th Series, 1997:
Gavin Wright,
Stanford žŸ
58th Series, 1996:
James L. Axtell,
College of William and Mary
57th Series, 1995:
Bertram Wyatt-Brown,
žŸ of Florida
56th Series, 1994:
Jacquelyn Dowd Hall,
žŸ of North Carolina
55th Series, 1993:
James M. McPherson,
Princeton žŸ
54th Series, 1992:
Dan Thomas Carter,
Emory žŸ
53d Series, 1991:
William E. Leuchtenburg,
žŸ of North Carolina
52d Series, 1990:
Harold D. Woodman,
Purdue žŸ
51st Series, 1989:
Robert W. Johannsen,
žŸ of Illinois
50th Series, 1988:
Lewis P. Simpson,
Louisiana State žŸ
49th Series, 1987:
Drew Gilpin Faust,
žŸ of Pennsylvania
48th Series, 1986:
Russell F. Weigley,
Temple žŸ
47th Series, 1985:
C. Vann Woodward,
Yale žŸ
46th Series, 1984:
Robert V. Remini,
žŸ of Illinois, Chicago
45th Series, 1983:
Leon F. Litwack,
žŸ of California, Berkeley
44th Series, 1982:
Eric Foner,
City žŸ of New York
43d Series, 1981:
Jack P. Greene,
The Johns Hopkins žŸ
42d Series, 1980:
Merrill D. Peterson,
žŸ of Virginia
41st Series, 1979:
Robert Coles,
Harvard žŸ
40th Series, 1978:
Don E. Fehrenbacher,
Stanford žŸ
39th Series, 1977:
Louis R. Harlan,
žŸ of Maryland
38th Series, 1976:
Carl N. Degler,
Stanford žŸ
37th Series, 1975:
Louis D. Rubin, Jr.,
žŸ of North Carolina
36th Series, 1974:
Eugene D. Genovese,
žŸ of Rochester
35th Series, 1973:
George Brown Tindall,
žŸ of North Carolina
34th Series, 1972:
John Hope Franklin,
žŸ of Chicago
33d Series, 1971:
George E. Mowry,
žŸ of North Carolina
32d Series, 1970:
Abraham P. Nasatir,
San Diego State College
31st Series, 1969:
David B. Davis,
Cornell žŸ
30th Series, 1968:
David M. Potter,
Stanford žŸ
29th Series, 1966:
Richard N. Current,
žŸ of Wisconsin
28th Series, 1965:
David Herbert Donald,
The Johns Hopkins žŸ
27th Series, 1964:
Frank Friedel,
Harvard žŸ
26th Series, 1963:
Walter B. Posey,
Agnes Scott College
25th Series, 1962:
Norman A. Graebner,
žŸ of Illinois
24th Series, 1961:
Clement Eaton,
žŸ of Kentucky
23d Series, 1960:
John R. Alden,
Duke žŸ
22d Series, 1959:
Rembert W. Patrick,
žŸ of Florida
21st Series, 1958:
Avery O. Craven,
žŸ of Oregon
20th Series, 1957:
Walter P. Webb,
žŸ of Texas
19th Series, 1956:
Francis Butler Simkins,
Longwood College
18th Series, 1955:
Wendell Holmes Stephenson,
žŸ of Oregon
17th Series, 1954:
Charles Snydor,
Duke žŸ
16th Series, 1952:
E. Merton Coulter,
žŸ of Georgia
15th Series, 1951:
Carl Bridenbaugh,
žŸ of California
14th Series, 1951:
C. Vann Woodward,
The Johns Hopkins žŸ
13th Series, 1950:
William C. Binkley,
Vanderbilt žŸ
12th Series, 1949:
William B. Hesseltine,
žŸ of Wisconsin
11th Series, 1949:
Fletcher M. Green,
žŸ of North Carolina
11th Series, 1949:
Fletcher M. Green,
žŸ of North Carolina
Tenth Series, 1948:
Frank L. Owsley,
žŸ of Alabama
Ninth Series, 1947:
Thomas D. Clark,
žŸ of Kentucky
Eighth Series, 1945:
James Garfield Randall,
žŸ of Illinois
Seventh Series, 1944:
Arthur Charles Cole,
Brooklyn College
Sixth Series, 1943:
Bell Irvin Wiley,
Emory žŸ
Fifth Series, 1941:
J. Fred Rippy,
žŸ of Chicago
Fourth Series, 1940:
Thomas P. Abernathy,
žŸ of Virginia
Third Series, 1938:
Herbert A. Kellar,
McCormick Historical Association
Second Series, 1937:
Avery O. Craven,
žŸ of Chicago
First Series, 1936:
Charles W. Ramsdell,
žŸ of Texas