Associate Professor of History
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, reared in Fernandina Beach, Florida, and educated at Clemson University (BA 2005, MA 2007) and the University of Georgia (PhD 2014), Dr. Welborn specializes in American cultural history during the Civil War Era (1820-1880) and the long Nineteenth Century (1780-1920). His work focuses on the emotional dimensions of evolving conceptions of virtue and vice, especially the role of violence in shaping these cultural values during these eras. His scholarship and teaching also engage topics related to Civil War memory and Southern foodways that examine issues of cultural diversity as they evolved over the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries in American history.
His first book entitled Dueling Cultures, Damnable Legacies: Southern Violence & White Supremacy in the Civil War Era (University of Virginia Press, June 2023) examines the emotional dynamics of white southern sectionalism and violence across the Civil War Era. His most recent book entitled Playing at War: Identity & Memory in Civil War Video Games (LSU Press, September 2024) is a co-edited (with Dr. Patrick A. Lewis, Filson Historical Society) collection of essays that analyzes Civil War video games as significant sites of memory creation, distortion, and evolution in popular culture, tracing the drift of Civil War memory into digital spaces and gaming cultures. He contributed a chapter entitled “Manifest Mythology: Cinematic Distortions of Antebellum American Imperialism & Manhood” in Martial Culture, Silver Screen: War Movies and the Construction of American Identity, edited by Matthew C. Hulbert & Matthew E. Stanley and published with LSU Press in November 2020. He authored an article entitled "Like Father, Like Son?: The Emotions of White Southern Manhood, Ministry, & Mastery During the Antebellum Sectional Crisis" published December 2021 with the Journal of Southern Religion, co-authored an article (with Dr. Stephen Berry, University of Georgia) entitled “The Cane of his Existence: Depression, Damage, and the Brooks-Sumner Affair” in the Winter 2014 edition of Southern Cultures, and authored an article entitled “Dispensing the Progressive State: Benjamin Tillman’s South Carolina State Dispensary” in the Winter 2013 edition of The Social History of Alcohol & Drugs: An Interdisciplinary Journal. He also serves as co-director (with Dr. Ashleigh Ikemoto, GCSU) of www.georgiabbqtrails.com, a site dedicated to exploring Georgia's history and culture through barbecue and is a core faculty member in the "Global Foodways Studies Program" at GCSU.
Dr. Welborn is past-president of the St. George Tucker Society, an interdisciplinary scholarly organization dedicated to the study of the American South. He is currently associate editor of the Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians (JGAH) and serves ex-officio on the GAH executive board. He has reviewed works for The Journal of Southern History, The Journal of the Civil War Era, Civil War History, The Civil War Monitor, The North Carolina Historical Quarterly, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, The Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians, The Journal of American Ethnic History, The Journal of Southern Religion, Southern Historian, Social History of Alcohol & Drugs, American Nineteenth Century History, Emerging Civil War, and Agricultural History. He is an active member of the American Historical Association, Southern Historical Association, Society of Civil War Historians, St. George Tucker Society, South Carolina Historical Society, South Carolina Historical Association, Georgia Association of Historians, and the Georgia Historical Society.
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About Dr. James Hill "Trae" Welborn III
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, reared in Fernandina Beach, Florida, and educated at Clemson University (BA 2005, MA 2007) and the University of Georgia (PhD 2014), Dr. Welborn specializes in American cultural history during the Civil War Era (1820-1880) and the long Nineteenth Century (1780-1920). His work focuses on the emotional dimensions of evolving conceptions of virtue and vice, especially the role of violence in shaping these cultural values during these eras. His scholarship and teaching also engage topics related to Civil War memory and Southern foodways that examine issues of cultural diversity as they evolved over the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries in American history.
His first book entitled Dueling Cultures, Damnable Legacies: Southern Violence & White Supremacy in the Civil War Era (University of Virginia Press, June 2023) examines the emotional dynamics of white southern sectionalism and violence across the Civil War Era. His most recent book entitled Playing at War: Identity & Memory in Civil War Video Games (LSU Press, September 2024) is a co-edited (with Dr. Patrick A. Lewis, Filson Historical Society) collection of essays that analyzes Civil War video games as significant sites of memory creation, distortion, and evolution in popular culture, tracing the drift of Civil War memory into digital spaces and gaming cultures. He contributed a chapter entitled “Manifest Mythology: Cinematic Distortions of Antebellum American Imperialism & Manhood” in Martial Culture, Silver Screen: War Movies and the Construction of American Identity, edited by Matthew C. Hulbert & Matthew E. Stanley and published with LSU Press in November 2020. He authored an article entitled "Like Father, Like Son?: The Emotions of White Southern Manhood, Ministry, & Mastery During the Antebellum Sectional Crisis" published December 2021 with the Journal of Southern Religion, co-authored an article (with Dr. Stephen Berry, University of Georgia) entitled “The Cane of his Existence: Depression, Damage, and the Brooks-Sumner Affair” in the Winter 2014 edition of Southern Cultures, and authored an article entitled “Dispensing the Progressive State: Benjamin Tillman’s South Carolina State Dispensary” in the Winter 2013 edition of The Social History of Alcohol & Drugs: An Interdisciplinary Journal. He also serves as co-director (with Dr. Ashleigh Ikemoto, GCSU) of www.georgiabbqtrails.com, a site dedicated to exploring Georgia's history and culture through barbecue and is a core faculty member in the "Global Foodways Studies Program" at GCSU.
Dr. Welborn is past-president of the St. George Tucker Society, an interdisciplinary scholarly organization dedicated to the study of the American South. He is currently associate editor of the Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians (JGAH) and serves ex-officio on the GAH executive board. He has reviewed works for The Journal of Southern History, The Journal of the Civil War Era, Civil War History, The Civil War Monitor, The North Carolina Historical Quarterly, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, The Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians, The Journal of American Ethnic History, The Journal of Southern Religion, Southern Historian, Social History of Alcohol & Drugs, American Nineteenth Century History, Emerging Civil War, and Agricultural History. He is an active member of the American Historical Association, Southern Historical Association, Society of Civil War Historians, St. George Tucker Society, South Carolina Historical Society, South Carolina Historical Association, Georgia Association of Historians, and the Georgia Historical Society.
| August 2021 - Present | Associate Professor of History, Georgia College & State University ‐ Department of History and Geography | |
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| August 2015 - July 2021 | Assistant Professor of History, Georgia College & State University ‐ Department of History and Geography | |
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Disciplines
Research Interests
Grants
| 2022 - 2023 | Digital Humanities Faculty Fellowship |
| Digital Humanities Collaborative, Georgia College & State University | |
| Digital Humanities Faculty Fellowship Grant | |
| Role: Co-Director: ““Keepers of the Flame Fan the Flames of Change: A Digital Oral History Project on Georgia Women in Barbecue” | |
| Colleague(s): Craig S. Pascoe | |
| $1,000 | |
| 2014 - 2015 | Summersell Short Term Research Fellowship |
| Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama | |
| Short-Term Research Fellowship Grant | |
| $500 |
Professional Service and Affiliations
| 2024 - Present | Co-editor, Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians (JGAH) | 2018 - Present | Alumni Mentor, Clemson University Tigerlink | 2018 - Present | Reviewer, National Conference on Undergraduate Research | 2020 - 2023 | Executive Board Member, Georgia Association of Historians (GAH) | 2019 - 2023 | President, St. George Tucker Society | 2018 - 2019 | Vice-President, St. George Tucker Society | 2017 - 2018 | Membership Committee Member, Southern Historical Association (SHA) |
Honors and Awards
- 2021 High Impact Practices Summer Institute Fellow, The Center for Teaching & Learning, GCSU
- 2018 Governor’s Teaching Fellow, Institute of High Education, University of Georgia
- GC Journeys Guide
- Applying the Quality Matters Rubric Certification
- 2010-2011 Future Faculty Fellow, The Center for Teaching & Learning and The Graduate School, University of Georgia
Courses
- HIST 4067: Troubling Brewing, Discord Distilled--History of Alcohol in the U.S. Civil War Era
- HIST 4068: Southern Pitmastery--History of Race & BBQ in the U.S. Civil War Era
- HIST 4069/4950-Special Topics: Feeding the Fire--History of Foodways in the U.S. Civil War Era
- HIST 3375: Study Away--Experiencing the Ethnic South Through Food
- HIST 4430/4950-Special Topics: U.S. Civil War Era in Film
- HIST 4420/4950-Special Topics: U.S. Civil War in Memory
- HIST 3560/4950-Special Topics: Gender in Southern History
- HIST 3550/4950-Special Topics: Religion in Southern History
- HIST 4610: The American Civil War
- HIST 0001: First Year Academic Seminar for History Majors
- HIST 4970: History Senior Thesis Capstone
- HIST 3001: Historical Research & Writing
- HIST 2112: U.S. History Survey from 1877
- HIST 2111: U.S. History Survey to 1877
| 2008 - 2014 | PhD, University of Georgia ‐ History | |
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| 2005 - 2007 | MA, Clemson University ‐ History | |
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| 2002 - 2005 | BA, Clemson University ‐ History | |
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Links
Contact Information
Dept. of History & Geography
212 Beeson Hall
CBX 47, GCSU
Milledgeville, GA 30161
478-445-0956
Email: