Background

William C. Harris was born on February 7, 1933, in Mount Pleasant, Alabama, United States. He is a son of Orrie N. Harris and Ethel (Weatherford) Harris.

Education

William attended the University of Alabama, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954, a Master of Arts degree in 1959 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1965.

In 2003, he received the Lincoln Diploma of Honor from Lincoln Memorial University.

Career

In his early years, William served in the United States Air Force. During the period from 1963 till 1968, he held a post of an assistant professor of history at Millsaps College. In 1969, Harris was promoted to the position of an associate professor of history at the same educational establishment, where he remained until 1979. In 1976, William joined the Department of History at North Carolina State University as a professor of history, where, between 1990 and 1995, he acted as chair of the same department. In 2004, William retired from North Carolina State University.

In addition, during his career, Harris has served on the Advisory Council of Ford's Theatre and on the Board of Advisors for Knox College's Lincoln Studies Center.

William has penned several books, including "Presidential Reconstruction in Mississippi" (1967), "The day of the carpetbagger: Republican Reconstruction in Mississippi" (1979), "William Woods Holden: Firebrand of North Carolina Politics" (1987), "With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union" (1997), "Lincoln's Last Months" (2004), "Lincoln’s Rise to the Presidency" (2007), "Lincoln and the Border States: Preserving the Union" (2011) and "Lincoln and the Union Governors" (2013).

Achievements

• William C. Harris is a prominent Civil War historian, prolific scholar and author, who has published a number of books on Lincoln and the Civil War. In 1998, his work, "With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union" (1997), was placed second for the Lincoln Prize. In 2004, he attained the Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Award for "Lincoln’s Last Months" (2004). In 2008, Harris was awarded the Henry Adams Prize for his book "Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency". Later, in 2012, he was honored with the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize for the book, entitled "Lincoln and the Border States: Preserving the Union" (2011).

Works

More photos

• book

  • Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency

    (Adopting a new approach to an American icon, an award-win...)

    2007
  • With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union

    (Although Reconstruction is usually associated with the pe...)

    1997
  • Lincoln and the Union Governors

    (Over the course of the Civil War, fifty-nine men served a...)

    2013
  • Lincoln's Last Months

    (Lincoln Prize winner William C. Harris turns to the last ...)

    2004
  • Presidential Reconstruction in Mississippi 1967
  • The Day of the Carpetbagger: Republican Reconstruction in Mississippi 1979
  • William Woods Holden: Firebrand of North Carolina Politics 1987
  • Lincoln and the Border States: Preserving the Union 2011

Membership

William is a member of the Southern History Association, Abraham Lincoln Association and Society of Civil War Historians.

• fellow

  National Endowment for the Humanities , United States

  1968 - 1969

Connections

William married Betty (Glenn) Harris in 1960. Their marriage produced three children.

Father:

Orrie N. Harris

Mother:

Ethel (Weatherford) Harris

Wife:

Betty (Glenn) Harris