Vanguard

Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: News

The first annual N. Jack Stallworth Lecture in Southern History, titled "Robert E. Lee Right Now," will be held at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23, in the University of South Alabama's Laidlaw Performing Arts Center. The lecture is sponsored by the department of history and the University of South Alabama Foundation and is free to the public.
Dr. Emory M. Thomas, regents professor emeritus at the University of Georgia, is this year's keynote speaker.
Tuesday night's lecture topic originated from Dr. Thomas's biography of Robert E. Lee, a military leader of the Confederacy. The book unveils Lee as a strong military leader with an intricate personality, who is greatly influenced by his father's failures.
The first annual lecture is primarily a result of the substantial gift given to the USA Foundation by Mr. N. Jack Stallworth of Mobile.
Stallworth, a lifelong resident of Mobile and a well-known businessman, was a graduate of Castle Heights Military School in Tennessee and a graduate of the forestry program at Louisiana State University.
Known as "Mr. Mardi Gras," Stallworth provided leadership for the Mobile Carnival Association and co-founded America's Junior Miss Program, the Mobile Camellia Ball and the Mobile Chapter of the English Speaking Union. Stallworth was also a very successful businessman, having owned and operated several businesses and restaurants throughout the past several years.
In 2004, Stallworth contributed assets to the USA Foundation, providing for the establishment of the annual N. Jack Stallworth Lecture in Southern History and scholarships. The tuition scholarships, to be named in memory of Stallworth's parents, are for the benefit of USA students majoring in history, with an emphasis on Southern history.
According to Dr. Clarence Mohr, chairman of the history department, the Stallworth gift will greatly benefit students in the department. "The Stallworth gift will allow us to bring in prominent scholars in the field of Southern history for the annual Stallworth Lecture and will provide several $2,000 undergraduate scholarships for history majors," Mohr said. He also said the first Stallworth scholarships will be awarded this spring at the history department's annual awards day ceremony.
Stallworth's contributions also include his family home and its contents on Springhill Avenue that were left for the use of the USA Foundation. The home will primarily be used to support several programs of the University, including the enrichment of Southern history courses.
Dr. Emory earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. from Rice University. He taught at the University of Georgia for 35 years before retiring in 2002.
His publications have attracted scholars and the general public alike. Among Thomas's eight books are "Robert E. Lee: An Album," "Robert E Lee: A Biography," "Travels to Hallowed Ground: A Historian's Journey to the American Civil War," "Bold Dragoon: The Life of J.E.B. Stuart" and "The Confederate Nation, 1861-1865."
Dr. Thomas has also held a Senior Fulbright Lectureship at the University of Genoa, the Douglas Southall Freeman Chair at the University of Richmond and the Mark W. Clark Distinguished Visiting Professor at The Citadel.
For more information on Stallworth's contributions or the history lecture, call the history department at (251) 460-6210, or visit their Web site at http://www.southalabama.edu/history/.

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