Author · Historian · Educator
Educational History, Social Studies, Biography
Social Studies & American History

University of North Georgia

Dr. Lauren Yarnell

Bradshaw

Exploring the intersection of historiography and pedagogy, with particular attention to how educational narratives influence collective memory and identity.

Her current book project examines the role of Mildred Rutherford in shaping educational history, analyzing Rutherford’s influence on textbook standards, historical interpretation, and the transmission of Southern memory in the classroom.

Dr. Lauren Yarnell Bradshaw

About Lauren Bradshaw

Dr. Lauren Yarnell Bradshaw is Professor at the University of North Georgia.  She earned her Ph.D. in Social Studies Teaching and Learning from Georgia State University in 2016, following a decade of teaching in Atlanta-area public schools.

Specializing in educational history, educational biography, and social studies education, Dr. Bradshaw’s work centers on historical inquiry and the ways historical narratives are constructed, contested, and taught in classroom settings. Her teaching emphasizes the critical examination of primary sources, engaging students in the analysis of materials to develop historical thinking skills and a nuanced understanding of the past. She encourages students to interrogate competing interpretations and to evaluate how historical narratives are shaped by context, perspective, and purpose.

Selected Publications

The University of Chicago Press Journals (2023)

Confederate Monuments and Democratic Practice in the Classroom. Schools

Chara Haeussler BohanLauren Yarnell Bradshaw, and John L. Pecore

In the United States of America, democratic education has evolved philosophically over 200 years from Jeffersonian ideas of educated citizenry to Deweyan principles of democracy as a “mode of associated living.” In contemporary society, Dianna Hess has written about democratic education as a process of deliberative democracy. Yet the idea of democratic education remains challenging to implement in actual classrooms. READ MORE…

Project Muse, Published by: University Press of Mississippi (2021)

“So firm a fold:” resiliency at Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia during the Civil War Persistence through Peril: Episodes of College Life and Academic Endurance in the Civil War South

Bradshaw, L.Y., Bennett, M Edited by R. Eric Platt and Holly A. Foster

To date, most texts regarding higher education in the Civil War South focus on the widespread closure of academies. In contrast, Persistence through Peril: Episodes of College Life and Academic Endurance in the Civil War South brings to life several case histories of Southern colleges and universities that persisted through the perilous war years. READ MORE…

State University of New York Press, Albany, NY (2021)

Repurposing the Confederacy: Understanding issues surrounding the removal and contextualization of Lost Cause Iconography at Southern Colleges and Universities, Plantation Politics and Campus Rebellions: Power, Diversity, and the Emancipatory Struggle in Higher Education

Platt, E., Foster, H., Bradshaw, L. Bianca C. Williams, Dian D. Squire, Frank A. Tuitt

Between 2012 and 2018, more than 100 US college and university campuses erupted in protests. Many used the #BlackLivesMatter declaration as a core message, connecting struggles on their campuses with the battles against police violence and anti-Black racism taking place in neighborhoods across the country. READ MORE…

The Councilor A National Journal of the Social Studies (2020)

“Hello from the other side: Social studies faculty teaching biography in state history courses,” The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies. Vol.81.

Southall, A., Bradshaw, L.

This paper explores the opinions and interests of pre-service social studies students at two universities enrolled in a state history course taught by a socials studies faculty member. Findings include similar motivation for learning state history and opinions on interactive history lessons, while showcasing different interests in historic figures. READ MORE…

Sage Journals (2019)

The mint julep consensus: an         analysis of late 19th century southern and northern textbooks and their impact on history     curriculum.” Journal of Social Studies Research. 44(1)

Bohan, C. H., Bradshaw, L.Y., Morris, W.H.

In the decades after the Civil War, Southerners wrote and published their own history textbooks for secondary schools. These “mint julep textbooks,” as the Southern all-white editions were called by the 1960s, reinforced a Lost Cause narrative of the war for Southern audiences while competing with Northern versions of events. In this study, we employ both historical narrative and content analysis of six textbooks’ portrayals of John Brown, John Wilkes Booth, and Nathan Bedford Forrest. READ MORE…

Emerald Publishing (2018)

A school of their own: movements to provide industrial    education in Columbus, Georgia for marginalized students on both sides of the color line. Educating a Working Society: Vocationalism in 20th Century American   Schools. 59-73

Bradshaw, L.Y.

The future looks promising for the field of career and technical education (CTE). The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 eases the way to create multiple pathways for high school students to get to college and careers. Philanthropic foundations are funding innovations in career preparation. READ MORE…

Speaking Engagements

“Bulldog of the Lost Cause: Mildred Rutherford Corruption of History Education.”

Georgia Council of History Education, May 19, 2026. https://forms.gle/czfgiTdHdwdycAuJ8


“Rebel Woman: Mildred Rutherford’s Anti-Suffrage Campaign”(Spring 2024)

Funk Heritage Center.


“Downing the Flag” (2021, November)

produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting, Invited Speaker at public virtual forum on the history of Confederate monuments in Georgia.

Contact

Substack

https://laurenyarnellbradshaw.substack.com

Social Media

@laureninthearchives on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok