Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 1/30/01
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple   22

Editors: Photo accompanies release
HISTORIAN SAMUEL C. HYDE JR. NAMED SLU ENDOWED CHAIR
     HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University has named historian and author
Samuel C. Hyde Jr., associate professor of history and director of the university's Center for
Southeast Louisiana Studies, as the Leon Ford Family Endowed Chair in Regional Studies.
     The university's second $1 million endowed chair, the Ford Family Chair was established
through a $600,000 donation from retired 21st Judicial District Judge Leon Ford III of Hammond
and his children, Leon Ford IV and Helen Ford Dufreche, and a $400,000 match from the
Louisiana Board of Regents.
     "We are very grateful for the generosity of Judge Ford and his family, who have a
demonstrated commitment of support for the study and preservation of Florida Parishes history
and culture," said John Miller, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. 
     An Amite native and Denham Springs resident, Hyde has a doctoral degree from
Louisiana State University and bachelor's degree from Tulane University. He also studied for
four years as an exchange student at universities in Germany, Austria, and London, England. 
     A member of Southeastern's history faculty since 1992, Hyde received the American
Association for State and Local History's Certificate of Commendation for "Pistols and Politics:
The Dilemma of Democracy in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1810-1899," his 1996 history of the
Florida Parishes' legacy of violence and anarchy. He also edited "Plain Folk of the South
Revisted," a collection of articles from Southeastern's 1996 Plain Folk of the South Symposium,
which explored the history of "common Southerners" in the 19th century. 
     Hyde also is the editor of "Sunbelt Revolution: The Civil Rights Struggle in the Gulf
South," which will be released by the University Press of Florida in 2002, and "Carnivals and
Conflicts: A Louisiana History Reader," which he co-edited with Southeastern colleages C.
Howard Nichols and Charles Elliot. The book will be released in January 2002.
     Hyde has coordinated the university's acclaimed Deep Delta Civil War Symposium since
1994 and last year organized "Louisiana's Florida Parishes: Continuity and Change, 1699-2000."
The two-day symposium highlighted the unique culture and  history the Florida Parishes and
featured regional, national and international scholars, exhibits, folklife demonstrations, and
musical performances, including the Piney Woods Opry Roadshow. LSU Press will publish a
collection of papers from the conference.
     He is heading the revival of the Southeast Louisiana Historical Association and
reorganization of the Gulf South Historical Association, which is now headquartered at the
center.
     Judge Ford, a Hammond native, has had a long association with Southeastern. He is a
graduate of Southeastern High School and received his bachelor's degree from Southeastern in
1951 and his juris doctorate degree from Louisiana State University Law School in 1952. Ford's
children and his late wife, Ginger Fortenberry Ford, all attended Southeastern, and Mrs. Ford
also was a member of the board of directors of the Southeastern Development Foundation. 
     As a teenager, Ford, enrolled as a Civil Air Patrol Cadet during World War II, soloing in
1945 at the age of 16. He later spent three years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, including a
year in Korea where he served as Staff Judge Advocate of the 8th Fighter Bomber Wing.
     Known for his extensive collection of early area photographs, which he has often shared
with the community, and for his enthusiasm for local railroad and aviation history, Ford is the
author of  "Hammond Army Air Field and Early Aviation in the Hammond Area."
     The Ford Family Chair will promote and enhance the operations of the Center for
Southeast Louisiana Studies, implement and expand teaching programs emphasizing southeast
Louisiana's historical and cultural diversity, enhance regional studies research programs and
serve as a liaison between the History and Political Science Department and the center. 
                             -SLU-
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/NewsEvents/PublicInfoOffice/newsp01.htm