Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Kenneth M. Stampp, R.I.P.



another giant in the field passes

Celebrated Historian Altered Understanding of Slavery

By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Kenneth M. Stampp, 96, a historian who helped transform the

study of slavery in the United States by exposing plantation owners as practical businessmen, not romantics defending a noble heritage, died of heart ailments July 10 at a hospital in Oakland, Calif. He had vascular dementia.

His death was confirmed by the University of California at Berkeley, where he taught from 1946 until retiring in 1983.

The full WaPo obit can be read here.

2 comments:

Elektratig said...

Agreed. A wonderful historian.

bill said...

Stammp was a bit of a hypocrite. In "The Era of Recostruction" ("Era"), he trashed WEB DuBois'"Black Reconstruction." However, Stammp's best chapter in "Era" is "The Tragic Legend of Reconstruction," which is a pale copy of "The Propaganda As History" in "Black Reconstruction."