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News: Roane State’s J.C. Davis brings history to life

Wearing a replica of a Confederate uniform, J.C. Davis says his tradition of donning clothing from historical eras tends to enliven history classes at Roane State Community College’s Cumberland County campus.

June 7, 2017

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

CROSSVILLE, Tenn. – J.C. Davis makes history come alive for his Roane State Community College students by dressing up in outfits from the eras under study.

When the lesson is the Civil War, he wears a different uniform every day from his collection of Union and Confederate outfits.

If he’s discussing the USA’s westward expansion, he’ll don a cowboy outfit. For the lesson about the battle of Little Big Horn, Davis will wear his 7th Calvary uniform.

During his lectures on World War II, Davis wears one of several battlefield uniforms he’s collected over the years.

With advance permission from campus officials and a review by security officers, he’s brought in out-of-commission wartime weapons, including artillery shells, to show his students.

“Sometimes I lie awake at night, thinking about how much fun I was going to have the next day,” he said.

“The students like it,” he says of his brand of teaching. “They’ll ask, ‘Who are you today, Mr. Davis?’”

“Let’s face it. We’re visual learners,” Davis said. “Anything that students can see and touch can help them learn.”

Davis, 68, is an adjunct professor at Roane State’s Cumberland County campus. He teaches U.S. History.

After a decades-long teaching career, including 34 years at Cumberland County High, Davis could have stepped away from education and enjoyed a comfortable retirement.

“I don’t have to have this job, but I love doing it,” he said. “I’m teaching for the fun of it.”

Stanton Tabor, a technical clerk at Roane State’s large campus on the outskirts of Crossville, said Davis was his history teacher back in the 1980s, and he was wearing period outfits then to enhance his lessons.

“He taught me to love history,” Tabor wrote in an email. “It changed my way of thinking about history, and I have heard a lot of students say the same.”

Davis said he latched on to the idea of dressing up for classes when he saw another educator decked out in a Civil War outfit at a Middle Tennessee educational conference.

“I thought that was great,” he said, “and I started doing it, too. It started getting bigger and bigger.”

Now he has wartime uniforms from almost every conflict in the country’s history, from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm.

Students have enthusiastically contributed to the lessons, Davis said. “They bring in stuff like medals and old newspapers.”

“I’ve had students give me cannonballs.”

To learn more about academic programs at the Cumberland County campus, visit roanestate.edu/cumberland or call (931) 456-9880.

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