Dr. Greg O'Brien
Contact Information
Email: wgobrien@uncg.edu
Office: 2110 MHRA
Office Phone: 336-334-3988
Education
Ph.D., University of Kentucky, 1998
M.A., James Madison University, 1994
B.A., Randolph-Macon College, 1988
Teaching Experience
Director of Graduate Studies, Dept. of History, UNCG, 2010-
Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008-
Associate Professor, University of Southern Mississippi, 2002-2008
Visiting Professor of Native American Studies, Dartmouth College, 2004
Assistant Professor, University of Southern Mississippi, 1998-2002
Research Interests
My research interests are in ethnohistory, American Indians of the Southeast, American environmental history (particularly in the South), and the American Revolutionary era. I have focused extensively on Choctaw Indian history before the 1830s.
Current Project
My current book project is a study of the 1849 New Orleans flood, the worst flood to hit that city before Hurricane Katrina. My longer-range project is a study of the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) in the South (1750s-1760s) focusing on American Indian diplomatic initiatives and relations between Indians and Europeans.
Courses Taught
- HIS 209, World Environmental History
- HIS 211, US History before 1865
- HIS 333, American Indian History to 1840
- HIS 334, Environmental History of the United States
- HIS 335, Colonial America
- HIS 511A, Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: "American Indian History before 1840"
- HIS 520, Southern History: Southeastern Indian History
- HIS 522, Revolts and Rebellions in Colonial America
- HIS 701, Colloquium in US History to 1865
- HIS 722, Topics in Early American History: Early American Indian History
- HIS 722, Topics in Early American History: The American Revolution
- HIS 723, Topics in 19th Century U.S. History: The Market Revolution
Selected Recent Publications
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- Pre-Removal Choctaw History: Exploring New Paths (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008).
- The Timeline of Native Americans: The Ultimate Guide to North America's Indigenous Peoples (Thunder Bay Press, 2008).
- Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830 (University of Nebraska Press, 2002, 2005).
- George Washington's South (co-edited with Tamara Harvey, University Press of Florida, 2004).
- "The Conqueror Meets the Unconquered: Negotiating Cultural Boundaries on the Post-Revolutionary Southern Frontier," Journal of Southern History, (Feb. 2001) 68:39-72.
Selected Awards and Honors
- Dianne Woest Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities, Historic New Orleans Collection, 2006
- Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher Award, 2005
- Who's Who in American Education, 2004
- McLemore Prize from the Mississippi Historical Society for the best book published on a Mississippi history topic in 2003.
- Fletcher M. Green and Charles W. Ramsdell Award for the best article published in the Journal of Southern History during the two-preceding years, 2002.
PhD students working with me
- Adam Hall, (entered program in 2013, MA from High Point University), 18th Century Carolinas
- Sarah McCartney (entered program in 2010, MA from William & Mary), 18th Century Virginia Backcountry
- Jamie Mize (entered program in 2012, MA from North Georgia), Revolutionary era South
- Ethan Moore, (entered program in 2013, MA from UNCG), Chickamauga Cherokee history
- Steven Peach (entered program in 2011, MA from Northern Illinois), Southeastern Indian History
- Jason Stroud (entered program in 2011, MA from N.C. State), Colonial / Revolutionary North Carolina
- Donna Ward (entered program in 2011, MA from UNC-Charlotte), River Cities in Antebellum America
- Monica Ward (entered program in 2010, MA from Rutgers), Southeastern Indian History
Links of Interest
- I am Executive Editor for the journal Native South, published by the University of Nebraska Press (www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Native-South,673964.aspx)
- I serve on the Environmental Studies Committee, overseeing the Environmental Studies major and minor at UNCG: www.uncg.edu/env/.
