GREENVILLE, S.C. (May 21, 2019) – Dr. Carl Abrams, a history professor at Bob Jones University, has been named American History Teacher of the Year by the National Society Daughters of Colonial Wars, a society dedicated to the preservation of the history of America.
Abrams has taught American history courses at BJU since 1974.
Last September, BJU nominated Abrams to the South Carolina Society Daughters of Colonial Wars for Outstanding American History Teacher for 2018–19. The state society later selected him from among history professors around the state to be South Carolina’s nominee for the national award.
Abrams holds a bachelor of arts in history from BJU, a master of arts in history from North Carolina State University and a Ph.D in American history from the University of Maryland, College Park.
He is the author of three books: Conservative Constraints: North Carolina and the New Deal; Old-Time Religion Embracing Modernist Culture; and Selling the Old-Time Religion: American Fundamentalists and Mass Culture 1920–1940, for which he was nominated for the best book on southern history.
Abrams has published a variety of articles in publications such as the North Carolina Historical Review, the Encyclopedia of North Carolina History, and Political Parties and Elections in the United States: An Encyclopedia. He has contributed book reviews to the Journal of American History, the American Historical Review, and the Journal of Southern History.
“He approaches teaching American history from many perspectives—not just political and economic, but from the intertwined forces of race, class, gender, technology and entertainment. Doing so gives him opportunities to investigate how these parts of culture have influenced each other as well as human actions and reactions,” said Dr. Brenda Schoolfield, chair of the Division of History, Government and Social Science. “Carl has a deep interest in people that keeps him asking questions about the human condition. This makes him a good historian.”
This summer, Abrams and his wife, Linda, also a BJU faculty member, are leading a group of students in a 3-credit study abroad history course in France.
