Ian Pettus

Education

ABD, Auburn University (ongoing)

MA, Eastern Washington University

BA, Eastern Washington University

About Me

Ian Pettus is a native of the California Bay Area and is currently attending Auburn University in pursuit of his Ph.D. As an undergraduate, Ian studied slavery in the Atlantic World. His first conference paper, “In Defense of Eric Williams: The William’s Thesis After Nearly Seventy Years,” analyzes the changing responses to Williams’ claim that British abolition was economically driven, and was a semi-finalist at the Northwestern Phi Alpha Theta Conference in 2011. His master’s thesis, “Under False Colors: Illegal Slavery, Chicanery, and Cuba’s Chinese,” looks at Chinese indentured laborers and their substitution for enslaved labor during Cuba’s slow transition to a free labor-based economy in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Whether looking at forced relocation and labor in the Atlantic World or Chinese immigrants who travelled thousands of miles to work in Cuba’s cane fields, Ian has always been drawn to historical questions that transcend traditional national and regional boundaries. His dissertation research continues in this vein by exploring the history of ex-Confederates who left the South and relocated to New York City after the Civil War. This research focuses on elite Southern migrants who leveraged their pre-war status and pre-existing social networks to carve out positions of influence and affluence in post-war New York City. It explores their contributions to the shifting identity of New York City’s expanding upper classes and how these ex-Confederates went on to help craft the memory of the Civil War, national politics, American imperialism, and sectional reconciliation.

Conference Presentations

“Under a False Flag: The Roots of Cuba’s Chinese Coolies in the Illegal Slave Trade.” (paper presented at annual Phi Alpha Theta Northwest Conference, Bellingham, Washington, April 8-9, 2016).

“’A Pryor Engagement’: Where the Old South Met the New North.” (paper presented at annual Phi Alpha Theta Northwest Conference, Spokane, Washington, April 13-15, 2012).

“In Defense of Eric Williams: The Williams Thesis After Nearly Seventy Years.” (paper presented at Phi Alpha Theta Northwest Regional Conference, Seattle,_Washington,_April_7-9,_2011).

Research Interests

19th Century United States, Unfree Labor, Memory, Reconstruction and Reconciliation

Publications

Digital History Content

“Corbin and Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens.” Spokanehistorical.org. http:

//www.spokanehistorical.org/items/show/81 (published summer 2012).

“Moore Mansion.” Spokanehistorical.org. http://www.spokanehistorical.org /items/show/83 (published summer 2012).

“Review Tower.” Spokanehistorical.org. http://www.spokanehistorical.org /items/show/85 (published summer 2012).

“Steam Plant.” Spokanehistorical.org. http://www.spokanehistorical.org /items/show/68 (published summer 2012).

“The Davenport Hotel.” Spokanehistorical.org. http://www.spokanehistorical.

org/items/show/69 (published summer 2012).

Courses Taught

History 110: American Experience: Pre-history to the Present (Fall 2016)

History 1010: World History to 1750 (Discussion Leader, Fall 2018)