Release date: March 28, 2002
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Students Spanning Four Decades Revisit History Professor’s Class

Dr. Young and his students gather for a nostalgic "class reunion."

From the days of post-World War II America until the dawn of disco, Emory University history professor emeritus J. Harvey Young consistently challenged his students with one assignment that never went out of style: write a paper on a topic they were passionate about.

Young, now 86, meticulously recorded the author and topic of each paper – all 640 of them. He invited his former students back to campus for a "class reunion" on March 27 to reflect on the topic that first engaged their interest so many years ago, and to see if the subject still resonates with them today.

Nearly 40 alumni came back – one of them from Tokyo – to attend the event, and many more have written to Young with fond memories of him and of his American social and intellectual history class.

Several of the former students admitted that, while they could not recall the topic of the paper, they were greatly influenced by Young as a teacher who brought history alive and made them think, investigate and go beyond mediocre effort. His vigorous academic standards were matched by his caring interest in them, many said.

"He has been a mentor to me throughout my life," says Ed Jervey, a Radford University professor emeritus who took Young's class the first time it was offered – in 1948. "When I was in high school I hated history, but after I took my first class with Dr. Young it changed the course of my life and I ended up teaching history for 32 years."     

From 1948 to 1977, Young's assignment produced papers on everything from birth control, Black Muslims, comic books, and Sputnik, to the Beat Generation, the impact of television (in 1948, no less), the rise of suburbia, the changing role of women, and the Civil Rights movement.

"It has been an amazing experience to hear back from my students and to know that their educations were useful and memorable to them," says Young, who retired in 1984 as the Candler Professor Emeritus of American Social History.

This is the first time Emory has offered such a program, which is sponsored by the Association of Emory Alumni and the Emeritus College. Emeritus College is a new, two-year pilot program that seeks to enhance the relationship between the university and its emeritus faculty for the benefit of Emory's educational mission and for the greater welfare of its retired professors.

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