Why I Teach: Dr. Elwood Watson
Dr. Elwood Watson, professor of history, Black American studies and gender studies, helps his students connect the dots between history and contemporary issues. His expertise spans from history to popular culture, and his writing and research offer valuable insights that address pressing issues encountered by Americans.
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Dr. Elwood Watson
Well, I think history is highly important because, first of all, we reside in history, okay, whether we are aware of that fact or not; anybody can get a book and read the facts, just saying this happened in 1895, this happened in 19, people say, okay. And so what? That's like a "Jeopardy" question. I want you to be mini historians, at least through my class in a semester, the how, the why, yes, you know the whats and whens, but let's incorporate and why and how this came about; causation, the significance of the event, and the end result. To me, that's how you should teach history.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Hi. I'm Kimberly McCorkle, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at East Tennessee State University.
From the moment I arrived on this campus, I have been inspired by our faculty. Their passion for what they do. Their belief in the power of higher education. And the way they are transforming the lives of their students.
This podcast is dedicated to them, our incredible faculty at ETSU. Hear their stories as they tell us, "Why I Teach."
In this episode, we will talk with Dr. Elwood Watson, Professor of History, Black American Studies, and Gender Studies at ETSU. Dr. Watson earned a bachelor's and master's degree at the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in American history at the University of Maine. He began teaching at ETSU in 1997, and during that time, he has received multiple Distinguished Faculty Awards in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Watson is a prolific writer, the author and editor of dozens of journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews. He also authored several books, including a book of essays about race in contemporary America. He's a regular columnist and contributor to numerous national publications, where he applies his expertise in history to current events and issues. Dr. Watson's extensive research and expertise, spanning from history to popular culture, offer valuable insights that address numerous pressing issues encountered by Americans.
I look forward to hearing how he engages his students in these important conversations and helps them to discover ways to connect what they learn in their classrooms to their communities.
Enjoy the show.
Dr. Watson, welcome to the show.
I start my podcast with the same question for every guest. Take me back to your first day of teaching at ETSU as a faculty member, and looking back on that day, what is one piece of advice that you would have given yourself?
Dr. Elwood Watson
Yeah, that was in August of 1997. That was my first day of teaching here. And when I walked into that classroom for the first time, seeing students, it was interesting. The students were skeptical I was their professor at first because they said, "Well, you know, ETSU has a lot of nontraditional students as well." And one lady was like, "You're younger than my son, I think." So. And they're like, "Are you serious? You're the professor?" And I was like, "Yes, I'm the professor." And at that time, I was 30 years old. Yeah. And these kids were like, it was a gen ed survey class, so we're talking about 18, 19, you know, a decade older than they were, but not, you know, much, much older than they were. But, so it was a, but I think there was a little bit of skepticism the first couple of weeks. But when they saw, you know, that I knew my material and I was able to engage, and I think they were able to, you know, they really appreciate it. And then got fantastic evaluations and became one of the more popular professors in the department, you know, which I was glad.
So I learned a lot about, I don't know if I would change too much, but I think perseverance; I learned, you know, be your authentic self.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Yes.
Dr. Elwood Watson
You know, and I think students will appreciate that more, as opposed to engaging and trying to be a persona that's not necessarily you.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Yeah, that's great advice. Will you tell us a bit about your journey into academia, including how you became interested in the intersection of history, Black American studies, and gender studies?
Dr. Elwood Watson
Yes. At the University of Delaware, I was, I started off as an English major at that time. Delaware, this was the mid-1980s, I started college in the mid-1980s. Delaware at that time, it's the English department there, like many places, it's, you know, transformed considerably, at that time, was primarily European history, Shakespeare, Hawthorne, well Hawthorne's American, but, you know, it was pretty much, you know, to use that term, and I don't mean this derisively, but as some radical students would say, the dead white male, if you can.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Right.
Dr. Elwood Watson
And by the nineties, the English departments were facing a reckoning. But at that time, for me, I decided to go to history. I took a history class with a man by the name of Dr. Jack Ellis, who has since retired. He went from Delaware; he eventually became the dean at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. But he was, I took a class with him, World Civilization since 1600. And it was one of the most fascinating classes I'd ever had and I didn't do too well on the first exam. But I did much better on the second and final exam. He was very, very impressed. You know, as you know, he said, you got this grade, but you got the hard way, but you got it.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Right.
Dr. Elwood Watson
And then he asked me would I be interested in becoming a college professor one day. This is like two months later.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Wow.
Dr. Elwood Watson
Well, that's, I had never given it much thought. I thought journalism, which I do on the side right now, is what, I'm a syndicated columnist, so I thought I might want to go and get my B.A., and just go straight to work. And but I said yeah, and he said “Well, come by my office in a couple of weeks, and we'll talk about it.”
It just so happened that he just became the brand-new chair of the department at that time, which didn't hurt. And so I learned, you know, a lot about academia. And he became my advisor. And I met with another professor who just retired last year, Dr. Wunyabari Maloba; he came from Stanford. He arrived there in 1988, and he was probably a little older faculty than average at that point, not much, but he was probably in his early, late thirties, early forties when he first started. And he, between the two of them and a few other faculty, Dr. Anne Boylan, all these individuals have retired by now. She got me interested in gender studies, and with that combination, she introduced me to people like bell hooks and Audre Lorde.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Yes.
Dr. Elwood Watson
And Patricia Williams.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Yes.
Dr. Elwood Watson
And I took a class with her, which was American Women since 1945. And that's a class I actually teach here.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Is that right?
Dr. Elwood Watson
Yeah, at East Tennessee State University. And those factors alone, individuals at Delaware really got me started off into looking into gender studies, pop culture, you know, race. And, and I was able to, you know, combine those factors as well. And it was intersectionality. And to quote Paula Giddings, you know, she's coined the term the intersection of race and gender. So there was a combination of factors that got me interested in my passion for the humanities, my passion for, you know, academia in general. And I think I was able to, you know, propel that into my work as my work, my books and things are very multidisciplinary. Right. Even though I'm a historian by training, my work is multidisciplinary, and I incorporate a lot of dynamics into different fields into my work because I think that's what a liberal arts education is supposed to be about.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Right. Well, so to follow on that, your expertise covers a wide range of topics. Do you have a favorite lecture or class that you teach?
Dr. Elwood Watson
I actually like all my classes. I think that I'm more, I've been doing a lot more contemporary classes. This semester, for example, I'm teaching American history through film. That's a class I teach sporadically. And this semester, we're focused on the 1970s. I look at that from a historical perspective. I focus on films that are Cold War. In the past, I focused on films of the fifties. Each time I do it, we focus on a decade.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Right.
Dr. Elwood Watson
And we and also, I mean, there's obviously readings to supplement those films. But that's one of the classes beginning, I like that quite a bit. My Current Issues in American History, which I'm teaching this fall, there's such a popularity for that, and I get my classes because of the interdisciplinary nature, I am able to, a lot of non-major take my class as well as majors.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Sure. Right. Tell us, in what ways do you see historical perspectives influencing contemporary issues, and how do you help your students make those connections?
Dr. Elwood Watson
Absolutely. History, I always tell students, and I've told people that confidence is the mother of all disciplines. And I had a person tell me one time, what about philosophy? I said, "There's a history to it." But I think history, I think in many ways, and that is how I mean that, is certainly respectfully; I respect all disciplines in academia.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Yes.
Dr. Elwood Watson
But I think, you know, every discipline has a history, and you can certainly look at that, you know, whether it's literature, whether psychology, whether sociology, whether it's, you know, finance, you know, medicine, those dynamics and stuff as well. One of my colleagues actually does a course on history in medicine.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Yes.
Dr. Elwood Watson
As well. So I think what I do is I try to compare, you know, what is going on today, and sometimes when I teach a gen ed class here and there, I tell my students, for example, you know, we're talking about high wages, we're talking about wealth gaps in this country during the Gilded Age, that sort of stuff as well. I said, is there any similarities to what's going on today? And several students raise their hand. Yes, yeah. Yeah. And I says one could argue we're in a second Gilded Age, right? You know, widening gaps, you know, the wealthier seem to be getting more wealthy, working class people seem to be struggling more. If we're at, the news we watch and listen to. So I'm saying there is a good example where there are a lot of historians who say themselves that we are in a second Gilded Age.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Right.
Dr. Elwood Watson
So when you think about it, yes. I said, well, Mark Twain said it best. History doesn't exactly repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Right.
Dr. Elwood Watson
But to answer your question, yes, I always say, "Look, you know, these are not new issues?" They, you know, they may have different focuses and different things, but they're the more things change, that old saying, the more they stay the same.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Tell us a bit about your most recent book.
Dr. Elwood Watson
Well, my most recent book was published was called "Talking to You, Bro" and that was published in 2021. And it looks at masculinity of, you know, it looks at the history of masculinity and looks at dynamics on how men can learn from past history and accordingly, you know, take advice here and there as well. My current book that I'm working on is about men who are members of Generation X. That was those of us who are born between 1965 and 1980, and I'm working on that. And I should be well into getting it, well into it this summer. And hopefully at some point next year it should be out on the market. So I haven't got a title for that yet. So I'm looking for a major publisher with that one as well.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
What are what are the initial themes from that book?
Dr. Elwood Watson
I interviewed about 40 men from different backgrounds. Some are very religious, so that's probably going to be a chapter. I might call that Judeo-Christian brothers, you know, a couple are Jewish, you know, a couple are Christian, and a couple of them were, you know, a number of men of color. So we might even, that could be a chapter. A few who are members of the LGBT community. So that could probably be a chapter. Also interviewed a couple of men who were born between 1981 and 1983. That chapter will probably be me, men on the cusp, maybe not exactly, you know --
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Gen X --
Dr. Elwood Watson
but they're not there so early that, you know, they can be, you know, considered, you know, maybe a lot of Millennial I mean, the Generation X, you know, behaviors and sentiment there as well. So that'll be a chapter.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
As you know, ETSU just introduced the Compass Core Curriculum, which is our redesigned general education curriculum. As a faculty member of the Humanities area, why is it important for students to take courses like history that might be outside of their major area of study?
Dr. Elwood Watson
Well, I think history is highly important because, first of all, we reside in history, okay. Whether we are aware of that fact or not. History has a major impact on our lives. Obviously, for someone like myself who is a Black American, the 1964 Civil Rights Act of that year, signed in legislation by President Lyndon Johnson, is one of the reasons I'm probably at ETSU today. Doesn't mean I would not have necessarily have been a college professor, but it would likely would have been much more at a historically Black college and university, a HBCU, maybe a Howard, a Morehouse, a Spelman as well. The Voting Rights Act for Blacks who particularly lived in the South. I mean, if you were prior to that time, that was an apartheid system like the old South Africa. I mean, you pay taxes, you worked for a living, but you had to go to war if you were male, but you still were not able to vote.
So those type of things have had profound impacts on America. The voting rights, you know, Title Seven of that was for outlawing gender discrimination. People don't realize that. You know, women, you know, I tell a lot of students I taught the honors program for a number of years to a lot of young ladies. You know they had SAT, well ACT scores mostly, but SAT scores. I said your score you could go to anywhere in the country that you want to go based on your, you know, academic records, phenomenal academic records, you know, and very impressive young women. And the men were, too. But I'm just saying. But the point I'm making is that but prior I said to 1969, you could not have went to any Ivy League school. I said, you could not go, you could not have went to Harvard. You could not have went to Yale. You could not have went to Princeton, you could not have went to Brown. You could have went to Mount Holyoke. You could have went to Pembroke. You could have went to Vassar, you could have went to Wellesley. You know, you could have went to Smith, you could have went to any of the “Seven Sisters.” I mean, I said, but because you're a female up to 1969, you were not allowed to go to the mainstream campuses.
My sister, my oldest sister, Marsha, when she was at Princeton University in the fall of 1973, she was like the fifth class of undergraduate women to enter that institution at that time. So that was not lost on that women, that generation of women, I mean, as well. And I think that I think a lot of times I try to hammer these type of things home because a lot of times I think a lot of, you know, women think the feminist movement, younger women, not all, feel that the feminist movement is too extreme. I said maybe you better be glad some of these women were so extreme. Okay. You know, extreme. You know how that based on what I said, because the opportunities that many of you have today.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Right.
Dr. Elwood Watson
You would not have. I said prior to the 1970s, if you go back and watch the nightly news, Barbara Walters is one of the first women who was able to break into it on "The Today Show" in 1967. But by and large, you go back, and it was Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite. And this is not to say they weren't good at what they did, but there were no people of color, no other women, giving the news and nightly news. And I'm saying those are things, you know, today, Katie Couric, Deborah Norville, you look at news now, you'll see much more diversity. And I think that we're better for it. I mean, not even just Black, white, or women or men. You're seeing people from all nationalities giving the news. But that was not the case. And that was because of the Civil Rights Act. And, you know, the Voting Rights Act that gave these opportunities possible. And I try to teach history of those perspectives because I think people don't realize it could have a direct impact upon your life. So that's just one way that I try to hammer that home.
And I think students tell me at the end of the semester, some even went to my department chair and said, you know, I really appreciate Dr. Watson saying what he did. At first I didn't like it. It made me uncomfortable. Some of them say this, but I realized when I think about it and thought about it, it was important that I get this information.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Yes.
Dr. Elwood Watson
And I actually get on mine this should be a required class, but I try to teach it to make that connectivity factor. I think it's important that we try to make history as personable because I mean, yes, you need to know the facts. That's a given, but you need to know more than the facts. Anybody can get a book and read the facts. Just saying this happened in 1895, this happened in 19, people say, okay. And so what? That's like a "Jeopardy" question. I want you to be mini historians, at least through my class in a semester, the how, the why, yes, you know the whats and whens, but let's incorporate and why and how this came about; causation, the significance of the event,and the end result. To me, that is how you should teach history.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Yeah. And the power of the humanities to do that for students from all majors.
Dr. Elwood Watson
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
As I mentioned in your introduction, you are a prolific writer. How does your writing make you a better educator, and how does your teaching make you a better writer?
Dr. Elwood Watson
Oh, they both can complement one another quite well. My philosophy is that good researching, good research enhances good teaching. I think you can become very stagnant if you decide once you get tenure or a full professor for that matter, and do not necessarily engage in the level of research or just decide to maybe rest on your laurels or that comes along with that. I think that can make you stagnant, and I never want to be that type of professor. I'm always curious. I'm just, it's in my DNA. I can't help it. I just want to know about that. I'm always up to date about what's going on. I, that's why I like to go to conferences. I like to, you know, interact with others. I try to see what new scholarship is out there, you know, and I say who's doing what and connect with those individuals that are willing to connect. And many are. And because I think it just keeps you vibrant, which is one of the reasons I like working with graduate students so much. You know, grad students come up with interesting ideas. They keep you, you know, you could help them with ideas. I mean, and, you know, and I've you know, I've been able do some fantastic theses, you know, because these students are so interested as well.
And I try to do my graduate seminars a lot of times around what a lot of my students are working on. You know, they're working on gender issues, a lot of my seminars might be gender. If they're working on race issues, I try to put in race. If they're working on, you know, pop culture issues. But I believe in helping students, you know, working, you know, working them and trying to cultivate their, you know, their best skills. And, you know, and hopefully, you know, they decide to pay it forward.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Yeah. You've prepared them well. And a good reminder to thank your mentors, how important that is.
Dr. Elwood Watson
Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Finally, what impact do you hope you've made on your students?
Dr. Elwood Watson
I try to live by example. I don't expect, I don't say anything. I'd let them know I'm very you know, I have strong opinions. I certainly expect them to be strong opinions. My classes are discussion oriented. I said, we're going to talk in this class, whether it's about issues of race, gender, pop culture, we're going to be honest about it. We don't sugarcoat it. I said we'll be respectful to one another, by all means, but I believe you don't get anywhere by dancing around the bush. And then, particularly in our current climate, I think we can be respectful, but we've got to be candid, I think. And I said, because the current climate is anything but timid, okay? And we have to really be mindful. We have to really be looking look at things for a reality perspective. I always believe in being a realist. I mean, I think that let people know where you stand. As students, I want you to know, I want to know your stand. Why do you feel this way? Let's go from there. I think, I think once we know what's out on the table, we may not convince each other, but at least we know where one another stand. And I think it's a lot better than just trying to dance around a bush, you know? And, you know, maybe you'll come to my opinion, and maybe I'll come to you. I mean, you know, we dance around those kind of things. I'm not sure that it gets anything done. So I think, you know, that honesty, transparency, and let's go from there. And I think that's highly important, especially when you're doing history. To me, history is about getting to the truth -- right -- no matter where it may lead.
Okay. A lot of history, well, I've had students in the past, years ago, well, don't you think we'd do better if we don't talk about the negative things in history? I said, Well, look, I'd love to say everything in history was blue skies and apple pie, but it was not, okay. Especially if you look at Southern history, you're looking at history of race and gender and immigration, labor. It was right ugly in some cases. Okay. And I don't think we do ourselves a disservice to try to not skirt around those issues. You know, I mean, I think we have to say this is what happened, that there were good things that came out of it. Yes, of course. But we have to realize it didn't happen overnight. Women didn't get the vote overnight. People were like women got out in the street and there were two marches and all of a sudden the 1920, no, that was almost a 100-year battle. They went forward. They went backward. Some states said no. Tennessee was the state here that made it possible for the 19th Amendment to be ratified. And I mean, so had it not happened, it would've had to start all over again. It may not have been to the 1960s with Title Seven.
My point is, you know, those are kind of things you have to realize. Martin Luther King Jr. and them, look at the dedication they had to go through their civil rights movements from Frederick Douglass to David Walker all throughout history, we had television, Martin Luther King Jr., the power of television was very, very instrumental. Point was, you know, Martin Luther King Jr., and he was 24 when he led the movement, you know, look how long it took, a decade before the Civil Rights bill was actually enacted. And these things don't happen overnight. Okay. And that's why I try, kids, you have to realize the sacrifices that these individuals are made for people of my generation, your generation as things as well. And I think, you know, we have to let students know that. A lot of people don't understand why, you know, maybe the opportunities they have today, don't take them for granted because they can easily be taken away from you. I know that sounds dramatic, and it sounds drastic, but it is true. And I don't think any of us should ever get to rest on our laurels.
So that's what I tell students about history. And that's what I tell, you know, you've got to be mindful of it, you've got to always teach it and pass it on.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle
Thank you, Dr. Watson. I've enjoyed getting to know more about your research and your writing. I also appreciate the ways that you help to guide your students to important conversations and to an understanding of how they can use lessons from history that they learned in your class to make an impact on their communities.
Thanks for listening to "Why I Teach."
For more information about Dr. Watson, the College of Arts and Sciences, or this podcast series, visit the ETSU Provost's website at ETSU-dot-edu-slash-Provost.
You can follow me on social media @ETSUProvost, and if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to like and subscribe to "Why I Teach" wherever you listen to podcasts.