The Life of a Historian: Students' Questions Lead to Answers

While teaching an undergraduate history class at Texas Christian University, in the fall of 1997, Professor Gene Smith found himself stumped by a student’s question about the War of 1812.
 
“Why did some slaves fight for the Americans and some for the British — and how did they choose sides?” the student asked.
 
Smith, unsure of the answer, began his search for it that very afternoon — determined to satisfy his student’s curiosity (and to prove his worth as a professor).
 
Ultimately, he did both — albeit after 15 years of researching and writing The Slaves’ Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812.
 
“Students who ask questions spur people like me to find the answers,” Smith said.
 
“That’s the life of a historian.”
 
Smith, currently the Director of the Center for Texas Studies at TCU, visited with Upper School students at an assembly on Thursday, February 26, to discuss his newest book — and to reflect on history in general.
 
“History is about people,” he concluded. “If we don’t understand people, we won’t understand the past.”
 
Smith, the author of eight books, has also spoken at the Smithsonian Institution, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, the United States Naval Academy, and a host of universities in the United States and abroad.
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