Ralph Middlebury Student, Middlebury Professor

Author: Lindsey Whitton

Associate Professor of History James Ralph, despite his 12 year career, could still be mistaken for a college student himself. His youthful looks and rapport with students, however, are balanced with a first-rate intellect and a passion for the study of history.

James Ralph was born in Akron, Ohio, although he said he feels that he has "no roots in Ohio," and described himself as "truly a New Englander." He grew up in Amherst, Mass., with his three younger brothers, his father, who was a sports medicine physician for the University of Massachusetts (U-Mass.) at Amherst varsity athletic teams and also worked at the U-Mass. Health Service, and his mother, who was a nurse.

Ralph became acquainted with some very impressive athletes including basketball legend Julius Erving. He has remained a lifelong U-Mass. sports fan. "One of the themes of my life," Ralph commented, "is my love of sports."

Ralph described Amherst as "not an extremely wealthy community" but one in which the townspeople "are very well traveled and cosmopolitan. People are very active citizens who care about community, state and national politics. Town meetings are very lively — it was a great place to grow up."

He progressed through the Amherst public school system, graduating from high school in 1978. The caliber of his classmates was very impressive, Ralph asserted, since many were the children of faculty members at the three major colleges in the town, U-Mass., Amherst and Hampshire colleges. "Because there were such good students," he said, "fine teachers wanted to teach in Amherst."

Ralph matriculated to Middlebury College, his father's alma mater, in 1978. He was a history major who also fulfilled pre-medical requirements since he was considering following his father into medicine. He was "very influenced by wonderful faculty members," many of whom he has remained close with and now works alongside, including President John McCardell and Professor of History Travis Jacobs.

Ralph also made many close friends during his years as a college student, and enjoys reconnecting with them when they return to campus.

He recently spotted a former Middlebury classmate in the back row of his lecture class, and was suddenly reminded how much fun he had had in college. Middlebury, Ralph said, provides "a reservoir of memories you can turn to for the rest of your life. Your college years are full of adventure, the broadening of horizons and the cultivation of true, lifelong friends." But also, of course, fun. "I laughed a lot," Ralph said smiling.

He was also, however, a serious student. Despite the rigors of his course selection and his history major, where grades were characteristically lower than in more quantitative majors, Ralph graduated salutatorian of the Class of 1982 and won a history prize.

"What to do next?" Ralph faced an uncertain job market, much like today's, in 1982. "The economy was struggling and there wasn't a huge breadth of opportunity for recent college graduates." He knew that he wanted to work with people and, after considering the Peace Corps, he applied with a group of his friends to teach at private schools. He was offered an internship at the Williston-Northampton School and dove right into a "sink or swim" atmosphere where he taught two United States history classes.

After the one-year position was over, he had learned how much he liked to teach, so he decided to go back to school and "get more of a grounding in U.S. history." He began at Harvard in 1983, after teaching tennis for the summer. "I'm not sure if all my professors thought that I was the studious type," Ralph confessed. "I had a very dark tan at the time!"

Again, Ralph was privileged to have "a host of wonderful professors," and he set out to "take advantage of the great array of opportunities Harvard had to offer." He went to screenings, extra lectures and every other form of academic stimulation that he had time for during his six years in Cambridge. He "tried to be part of the conversation about politics." He was awarded a doctorate in 1990.

His first job, which he was offered that fall, was a one year position at Middlebury College. "I never expected this," Ralph said. "I thought when I graduated that I'd see Middlebury again only at reunions." He has remained long after that first year and was officially tenured in 1996. "I never imagined as a college student that I would become a professor of history. I've been surprised where I've ended up in life."

At Middlebury Ralph has had the chance to offer an array of courses in American history, ranging from the sweeping surveys to upper-level classes on the civil rights movement and urban America. He even developed a course on the history of the College to coincide with the Bicentennial in order to promote awareness of Middlebury's past among students. "The Bicentennial was a great celebration and commemoration," Ralph noted. "It was a treat to work with so many creative students and members of the staff and faculty to pull off the biggest birthday party in the College's history."

As an historian, Ralph concentrated much of his original work on the civil rights struggle in the 1960s. "I needed to work on something that I found relevant and there is nothing more relevant than the greatest domestic drama of the century — the civil rights movement."

After all his work, Ralph is optimistic about improving race relations, mostly because of the proactive, nonviolent work of many brave activists. "I believe what I am doing is important," he said. "My life has been enriched by my conversations with civil rights activists. I've just been a chronicler of their stories — they are some of America's greatest patriots."

His book, "Northern Protest: Martin Luther King, Jr., Chicago and the Civil Rights Movement" was published by Harvard University Press in 1993, and he is currently working on a book-length manuscript about the civil rights movement in Peoria, Ill. He "wanted to flesh out the struggle in a representative small northern city."

Even though he never could have anticipated his current occupation, Ralph is doing what he always wanted to do — work with people and travel. "I get to go meet interesting people, and I get to talk with them," he said. Last year, when he was on leave, Ralph went to 25 states and was reminded of the diversity of custom, food, language, geography and opinion across the country. "I was ultimately reminded how lucky I am to be a historian of the United States. There are unlimited stories to be told."