How did you become involved with AJHA?

I cannot remember exactly when I became a member of AJHA, but I am sure it was when I was a graduate student in the mid-1990s. Most likely that would have been when I presented my first paper ever at an academic conference at AJHA’s annual convention in Mobile, Alabama, 1997. That would be the first time when I would be surrounded by like-minded journalism historians who were doing all sorts of interesting research and who seemed to be interested in what I was doing. (I learned something else at that conference. I learned that Mobile had a legitimate claim to hosting the first Mardi Gras celebrations in what became the United States and not New Orleans.)

After a career in broadcast television, what drew you to studying the nineteenth century press?

While I knew that I wanted to pursue a graduate degree, I had no intention of going any further than completing an M.A. and planned to stay in TV news. Yet, I was always curious how the press reported events because I worked in the news media and understood that our choices affected what people learned about their world and the people in it. I knew that the 19th-century press told us much about our cultural, social, and political past. I also had a topic I had always wanted to explore: The Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. My program at Minnesota gave me methodological tools and theoretical connections to develop that idea. Plus, I had an amazing advisor, Hazel Dicken-Garcia who gave me the encouragement to pursue my research interests.

After completing the M.A., I realized my desire to explore the 19th-century press had only heightened, so I made the commitment to enter a Ph.D. program and to continue working with my advisor. I eventually turned my attention to the press and slavery in the antebellum years. I do not regret that decision.

Journalists are curious people and so are historians. Plus, the ethos of journalism demands that all questions are addressed as fully as possible for a story. The same holds for historical research. The digging goes on until all (or as many as possible) questions are answered.

What topics or questions are you pursuing in your current research?

I am still very much interested in how 19th century ideas found expression in those old newspapers and how they continue to resurface in contemporary media. Pick up any major newspaper after John Brown’s 1859 raid, and it is easy to draw comparisons between the political vitriol appearing in newspapers with what can be found in today’s splintered and divisive media environment. For example, I cannot help but see similarities in the dangerous and destabilizing rhetoric of Southern fire eaters who wanted to silence speech about slavery or dissolve the Union over it with today’s politicians who label their opponents enemies and create chilling effects on the press or to silence the speech of those who disagree with them.

I continue work on a media discourse I call “Manifest Destiny North.” This 19th-century discourse is a corollary to “Manifest Destiny.” Instead of westward expansion, it looks northward, suggesting that Canada should be a part of the United States. Some of America’s most powerful 19th-century editors thought it was a good idea and said so. (Thus, the current president’s rhetoric about annexing Canada is nothing new.) Importantly, Canada became Canada as a direct result of the U.S. Civil War and to resist potential American aggression in the post-Civil War years.

What advice would you offer a recently retired or emeritus faculty about making the transition away from full-time academia?

I cannot say that I am fully retired yet. I just finished teaching a media law class this spring at my alma matter, the University of Minnesota. I contribute news stories and features to a local newspaper. Plus, I work on my research projects. By the time this reaches AJHA readers, I will have made two presentations at the International Association of Literary Journalism’s annual conference in May. My other work includes a book chapter about Montréal literary journalism for the proposed book Charting the Global: Urban Literary Journalism, and I recently contributed a chapter about the 19th-century press and the Ghost Dance Movement to a proposed book on the press and 19th-century spiritualism.

Still, I would urge anyone who has retired recently to stay engaged with your local community, however defined, and your academic community. This is essential, in my view, and worked for me. Plus, I don’t believe scholars ever retire, really.

What hobbies or activities do you enjoy outside of academia?

The usual: walking, bicycling, going t the gym. I love to read poetry (and at my age, I finally understand it). I do volunteer work at the county history museum and at a small science museum for children. Plus, once a week, to work with patrons at the Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Central Public library as a computer tutor. Go figure.

Brian Gabrial is professor emeritus of journalism at Concordia University Montreal where he taught since 2004. He currently teachings at the University of Minnesota and researches the intersection of nationalism, race, and gender in the 19th century press.