“Don’t know much about history” are Sam Cooke’s song lyrics that many of us can identify. Yet, we know, “Those who do not learn history are destined to repeat it.”  

Georgia Writers Museum has a remedy for this dilemma. On Tuesday, Aug. 2, renowned historian Dr. “Cully” Clark will come to the rescue with his “Meet the Author” presentation on his book, “The Birth of a New South: Sherman, Grady, and the Making of Atlanta.” Admission is $10 and the event will be held at the museum at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.). 

Dr. Clark will be introduced by Mark Smith, owner and CEO of Smith Communications. Contact Georgia Writers Museum or www.georgiawritersmuseum.org to make a reservation.

Did you know that Gen. William Sherman contributed $2,000 to Atlanta’s regrowth and development after the Civil War? Sherman loved the South and viewed himself as a Southern gentleman, despite being born in Ohio. Bet you did not know that Henry Grady, managing editor of the Atlanta Constitution during the 1880s, was a mastermind at making connections, but his views were too inconsistent to be judged intellectual.

According to Dr. Clark, no two names are more associated with the emergence of the New South than Sherman, the destroyer, and Grady, the New South’s principal architect. Henry Grady advocated for a more urban South, but also had a vision for improved farm life. Remembered as the “great reconciler” between North and South, Grady’s famous “New South” speech echoes through the ages. General Sherman financially supported Grady’s efforts in organizing the Piedmont Exposition of 1887, a step toward opening markets on a broader scale for Atlanta and Georgia. Though Grady died young at age 39 in 1889, one cannot go far in Atlanta today without coming across his name on streets and public buildings. 

Dr. Culpepper (Cully) Clark is dean emeritus of the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. He was college dean from 2006 until he retired in 2013. From 1996 to 2006, he was dean of the College of Communication at the University of Alabama. Clark earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from Emory University, and a doctorate in history from the University of North Carolina. A historian of the South, Clark’s published works have focused on the New South Movement, Civil Rights, and communication. 

Dr. Clark is the author of “The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation’s Last Stand at the University of Alabama,” named a Notable Book by the New York Times Book Review. He also founded and edited a series, Studies in Rhetoric and Communication, in which more than thirty titles appeared. He is a past president of the Southern States Communication Association, and lives with his wife in Stone Mountain.