Hyde's Faculty Page

 

Sam Hyde Dr. Sam Hyde

Position: Director of the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies; Professor of History, Leon Ford Endowed Chair in Regional Studies
Fields of Study: Old and New US South, Patterns of Rural Violence, Antebellum Society and Culture, Southern Politics

Classes usually taught: Crime in American History, Old US South, New US South, Colonial US, Graduate Seminar, Ancient China and East Asia, Modern China and East Asia, Local and Regional History

Office phone number: 985-549-2151

E-mail:shyde@southeastern.edu

Education: B.A., Tulane; M.A., University of New Orleans; Ph.D., Louisiana State University

 

Awards and Honors

  • Michael V. R. Thomason Book Award, presented by the Gulf South Historical Association for "Pistols and Politics:  Feuds, Factions and the Struggle for Order in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1810-1935" (2018) 
  • President's Award for Excellence in Research, Southeastern Louisiana University, 2014
  • "Lifetime Achievement Award for Remarkable Efforts in Historical Research and Preservation," Foundation for Historical Louisiana, 2014
  • Named a "Fellow" of the Gulf South Historical Association, 2013
  • Recognized by both Houses of the Louisiana Legisltaure for Research Advancing Awareness of the History and Cultures of Louisiana's Florida Parishes, introduced by Lt. Governor Jay Dardennes, 2010.
  • Special Jury Remi Award, WorldFest International Film Festival, Gold Medal for Ecology, Environment, and Conservation Division.  Runner Up Best Film Overall from 4,400 submissions for American Crisis, American Shame: The National Consequences of Coastal Erosion, 2010 (script writer/narrator).  Gold Medal. Environmental Docudrama Division for American Crisis, American Shame, New York International Film and Video Festival, 2009.
  • Emmy Award nomination for script writing "Storms: Louisiana and Nature's Wrath" episode number five of the Florida Parish Chronicles television program 2006
  • Presidents Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Research, Southeastern Louisiana University, 2001
  • American Association for State and Local History Commendation for "Pistols and Politics", 1998
  • Hammond Regional Arts Foundation, Award for Outstanding Achievements in Literature, 1999
  • Newberry Foundation Fellowship, Newberry Library, Chicago, 1993
  • Distinguished Dissertation Award, College of Arts and Sciences, Louisiana State University, 1993 (dissertation also selected as one of ten distinguished dissertations from among over two hundred university wide)
  • T. Harry Williams Fellowship, Louisiana State University, 1991-1992
  • Fulbright Fellowship for Overseas Study, 1989-1990
  • Rotary Foundation Fellowship for Foreign Study, 1985-1986

Films

  • "The Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy:  Saving Coastal Louisiana," 2013
  • "American Crisis, American Shame: The National Consequence of Coastal Erosion" 2008 won Gold Medal Environmental Docu-Drama Category, New York International Independent Film and Video Festival 2010, and Special Jury Remi Award, Worldfest International Film Festival, 2010.
  • "The Manchac Swamp: Manmade Disaster in Search of Resolution" 2006
  • "Reluctant Americans: The West Florida Revolt, Completing the Louisiana Purchase" 2003 - recipient Silver Medal New York International Independent Film Festival and Bronze Medal Aurora Film Festival
  • "Louisiana's Florida Parishes: Securing the Good Life From a Troubled Land" 2001
  • "An Unforgotten Silence: Camp Moore The Confederate Base" 1994

Publications: Books

  • Bayou Dilemma:  Louisiana in Crisis and Change (forthcoming, University of Mississippi Press, 2024)
  • Rebel Bayou. co-authored with Sarah L. Hyde (University of Louisiana Press, 2022)
  • "Pistols and Politics (Second Edition):  Feuds, Factions, and the Struggle for Order in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1810-1935," (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2018.)
  • "The Enigmatic South:  Toward Civil War and Its Legacies" (Baton Rouge:  Louisiana State University Press, 2014)
  • "A Wisconsin Yankee in Confederate Bayou Country:  The Civil War Reminiscences of a Union General"  (Baton Rouge:  Louisiana State University Press, 2009)
  • "One of the Prettiest Spots I Have Seen:  Politics, Industry, and the Destruction of the Manchac Swamp Ecosystem," with Keith M. Finley, 2006
  • Pistols and Politics: The Dilemma of Democracy in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1810-1899 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996), paperback edition 1997, recipient AASLH commendation 1998
  • Plain Folk of the South Revisited (editor/contributor, Baton Rouge: L.S.U. Press, 1997)
  • Carnivals and Conflicts: A Louisiana History Reader (editor/contributor, New York: Harcourt, 2000)
  • Sunbelt Revolution: The Historical Progression of the Civil Rights Struggle in the Gulf South, 1866-2000 (editor/contributor, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003)
  • A Fierce and Fractious Frontier: The Curious Development of Louisiana's Florida Parishes , 1699-2000 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, September 2004) 

Publications: Articles

  • "Defining Louisiana Through the Lens of Change," in Bayou Dilemma:  Louisiana in Crisis and Change (University of Mississippi Press, 2024)
  • "As Louisiana as Crawfish Pie: Endemic Violence and the Non-Unanimous Jury Verdict," in Bayou Dilemma: Louisiana in Crisis and Change (University of Mississippi Press, 2024)
  • "Bitter Legacy:  Spanish Colonial Policies and the Tradition of Extra-Legal Violence in Louisiana's Florida Parishes," Tulane European and Civil Law Forum, Vol. 32, 2017.
  • "Setting a Precedent for Regional Revolution:  The West Florida Revolt Considered," Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 90, No. 2, Fall 2011
  • "Consolidating the Revolution:  Factionalism and Finesse in the West Florida Revolt, 1810," Louisiana History, Vol. LI, No. 3, Summer 2010
  • "Discovering a Neglected Southern Subregion" in A Fierce
    and Fractious Frontier: The Curious Development of Louisiana's Florida
    Parishes (Louisiana State University Press, September 2004)
  • "Plain Folk Reconsidered: Historiographical Ambiguity in Search of Definition" in
    Journal of Southern History, Vol LXXI, No. 4, November 2005
  • "Feuding is Our Means of Societal Regulation: Elusive Stability in Southeastern
    Louisiana's Piney Woods, 1877-1900," forthcoming in Louisiana History
    (Spring, 2007).
  • AA Threshold of Unobtainable Commitment: Irregular Operations in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1862-1865,@ in A Fierce and Fractious Frontier: The Curious Development of Louisiana's Florida Parishes (Louisiana State University Press, September 2004)
  • The Challenges and Expectations of Social Change in the Gulf South, 1866-2000,@ in Sunbelt Revolution (University Press of Florida, 2003)
  • Plain Folk Yeomanry in the Antebellum South, in John B. Boles (ed.), Blackwells Companion to the American South (London: Blackwell's, 2001)
  • "Historical Perspectives on the Common South," in Plain Folk of the South Revisited (Louisiana State University Press, fall 1997)
  • "Backcountry Justice in the Piney Woods South," in Plain Folk of the South Revisited (Louisiana State University Press, fall 1997)
  • "Mechanisms of Planter Power in Eastern Louisiana's Piney Woods," Louisiana History, XXXIX, No. 1 (Spring 1998)
  • "Blood Feud: Violence and Democracy in Louisiana's Florida Parishes," Cultural Vistas, IX, No. 2, (Summer 1998)
  • "Power and Place: Gender, Greed, and the Creole French Elite," in Reviews in American History, September, 1998
  • "Bushwhacking and Barnburning: Civil War Operations and the Florida Parishes Tradition of Violence," Louisiana History, XXXVI, No. 2 (Spring 1995).
  • "Research Methods in Historical Archives," Origins, IX, No. 2 (Spring 1993).
  • "Cultural Assimilation in Confederate New Orleans," Southeast Louisiana Historical Papers, XVII, 1993.
  • "The Cultural Geography of Southeast Louisiana," Cultural Resources Management Report for Southeast Louisiana, 1988.
  • "The Maritime History of the Lower Mississippi Valley," Maritime and Cultural Resources Planning Design for Southeast Louisiana, 1988.

Sample Presentations

  • "As Louisiana as Crawfish Pie:  Endemic Violence and the Non-Unanimous Jury Verdict,"  presented at the Louisiana in Continuity and Change:  Challenges Past and Present Confronting the Bayou State Symposium, September 2022.
  • "The National Consequences of Coastal Erosion in Louisiana," University of Louisiana Lafayette H2O Conference, Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise Center, 2017
  • "Historical Extra-legal Violence in the Gulf South and the EAR Formulation as Possible Solution," University of Southern Mississippi, Center for the Study of the Gulf South Lecture Series, 2017
  • "Dark and Bloody Business:  Politics and Feuding in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1880-1910," Gulf South Historical Assoc. Conference, Pensacola, Florida, October 2013
  • "Sources of Rural Southern Violence and Paramilitary Organizations," Foundation for Historical Louisiana Lecture Series, Baton Rouge, March 2014
  • "Revealing Our Unique History and Cultures Through the Holdings of the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies," Louisiana History and Genealogy Conference, Baton Rouge, March 2014
  • "Feuding is our Means of Societal Equilibrium:  Elusive Stability in Louisiana's Piney Woods Country,"  Spring Street Museum Lecture Series, Shreveport, La., March 2014
  • "Resolved to Violence:  Paramilitary Groups and the Dilemma of Justice in the Rural South," South Arkansas Historical Foundation Lecture Series, El Dorado, Arkansas, November 2012
  • "The Relevance of the West Florida Revolt to Economic Development in the Florida Parishes" Hammond Rotary Club, January 2003
  • "Sources of Opposition to the West Florida Revolt" Ponchatoula Kiwanis Club, January 2003
  • "Understanding the Connection between History and Economic Development" Leadership Tangipahoa Seminar, February 2003
  • "A Threshold of Unobtainable Commitment: The Civil War in Southeastern Louisiana", Denham Springs, La Kiwanis Club, February 2003
  • "The Curious Connection of the West Florida Revolt and the Louisiana Purchase" Hammond Kiwanis Club, February 2003
  • "The Louisiana Purchase as a Fulfillment of Jeffersonian Republicanism", Keynote Address, United Daughters of the Confederacy State Convention, Baton Rouge, La., May 2003
  • "Developing an Identity for the West Florida Republic", Republic of West Florida Society Annual Meeting, Baton Rouge, La., May 2003
  • "The Changing Face of a Fragile Ecosystem", Annual Conservation Banquet, Florida Parishes Skeet and Conservation Association, Amite, La., August 2003
  • "Sources of Opposition to the West Florida Revolt", West Florida Society Meeting, Baton Rouge, La., September 2003
  • "The Violent Legacy of Louisiana's Florida Parishes", Canary Island Heritage Society, Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge, La., September 2003
  • Master of Ceremony, Film premier "Reluctant Americans: The West Florida Revolt, Completing the Louisiana Purchase", Columbia Theater, Hammond, La., Fanfare eve premier, September 2003
  • Livingston Parish Premier "Reluctant Americans", Walker, La., October 2003
    Keynote Address, Washington Parish Fair and Festival Commission, Franklinton, La., October 2003
  • "Sources of Opposition to the West Florida Revolt", 22nd Annual Gulf South Historical Association Conference, Pensacola, Fl., October 2003
  • "Genealogical Studies and Resources at SLU", Hammond Round Table, October 2003
  • "St. Helena: A Divided Role in Rebellion, 1810", Greensburg, La., St. Helena Parish Tourist Commission Annual Meeting, October 2003
  • "West Feliciana Capital of the Original Lone Star Republic" West Feliciana Parish Tourist Commission Annual Meeting, October 2003
  • "Curious Aspects of the Civil Rights Struggle in Southeastern Louisiana", Louisiana Festival of the Book, State Capital Building, Baton Rouge, La., November 2003
  • "Developing an Identity for Washington Parish", Washington Parish Genealogical Society Meeting, Franklinton, La., November 2003
  • "Why Celebrate the West Florida Revolt", Reception Highlighting Unveiling of I-12 Commemorative Signs, 7 members State Legislative Delegation Present, Alumni Center, SLU, November 2003
  • "Examining the Native American Cultures of Southeastern Louisiana", America Reads Program, Baton Rouge, La., November 2003
  • "A Territory of Greatest Importance Sources of Support and Opposition to the West Florida Revolt, 1810", Foundation for Historic Louisiana, Premier Lecture Series, November 2003
  • "Exploring and Understanding the History of Southeastern Louisiana", Presentation before 400 school children, Columbia Theater, Hammond, La., December 2003