Garnie W. McGinty | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1900-04-05)April 5, 1900 Ringgold, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | April 22, 1984(1984-04-22) (aged 84) Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Occupations | |
| Notable work | Louisiana Redeemed: The Overthrow of Carpet-Bag Rule 1876-1880 (1941) |
| Spouse | |
Garnie William McGinty (April 5, 1900 – April 22, 1984)[1] was ahistorian whose career was principally based for thirty-five years atLouisiana Tech University inRuston, Louisiana.
McGinty was born inBienville Parish in north Louisiana betweenRinggold andBienville to Alonzo Eugene McGinty and the former Maude Leshe. He was educated in local schools and attendedBaptist-affiliatedLouisiana College inPineville and received his Bachelor of Arts degree fromNorthwestern State University inNatchitoches. He procured theMaster of Arts degree fromPeabody College inNashville, Tennessee. He also studied atVanderbilt University in Nashville and theUniversity of Chicago inIllinois before he received his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Texas at Austin. TheU.S. Congress declared war on Germany one day after McGinty's seventeenth birthday. He was hence part of the Student Army Training Corps during World War I.[2]
Early in his academic career, McGinty was theprincipal ofelementary schools inRed River,Claiborne, andPointe Coupee parishes. He was also the principal of a secondary school inDe Soto Parish south ofShreveport.[2] McGinty taught at the college level for a half-century, having served atWestern Kentucky University inBowling Green, Kentucky, Northwestern State (then known as LouisianaNormal College), Louisiana Tech (then Louisiana Polytechnic Institute), and theUniversity of Montevallo inMontevallo in centralAlabama. He headed the social sciences, later history, department at Louisiana Tech for thirty-five years. He was succeeded in the history chairmanship byWilliam Y. Thompson, a native ofBaton Rouge who specialized inCivil War andsouthern studies. McGinty also served for a year as the acting president of NSU, hisalma mater. Upon his retirement from Louisiana Tech, he was appointedprofessor emeritus. The McGinty Chair of History was established by Louisiana Tech in his honor.[2] Similar chairs honor Thompson[3] andJohn D. Winters, another specialist in the Civil War.[4] Scholarships are also named for McGinty as is the Louisiana Tech publications division.[5]
In 1962, McGinty was elected by his colleagues as the fifth president of the reorganizedLouisiana Historical Association.[6]In 1971, three years prior to the opening ofLouisiana Downs inBossier City, McGinty published "Horse-racing in North Louisiana, 1911–1914," in the journal,North Louisiana History, a twice-annual publication of the North Louisiana Historical Association, an organization which he formerly headed.[2][7]
During his 50-year teaching career, McGinty wrote forty essays and articles, fifty book reviews, and five books. HisA History of Louisiana was used as a college textbook for two decades. Another popular work isLouisiana Redeemed: The Overthrow of Carpetbag Rule, 1876–1880, a 1941 study of theReconstruction era, which ends with the triumph of theRedeemers, the southernDemocrats who defeated the RadicalRepublican administrations across the South.[8]
McGinty was listed inWho's Who in Education,The Dictionary of International Scholars, andMen of Achievement. On July 15, 1932, McGinty married the former Zoé Heard (1902–1976) of Ruston. The couple had no children.[2][9] McGinty had a brother, Thomas Guice McGinty (1893–1983) ofSibley, a state government employee who twice ran forsheriff of his adoptedWebster Parish.[10]
McGinty was a brother-in-law of Charles Raymond Heard (1896–1963), a prominent wholesalegrocer in Ruston who served on the Louisiana State Board of Education prior to 1960, when he was unseated in theDemocraticprimary election by laterU.S. RepresentativeJoe Waggonner ofLouisiana's 4th congressional district.[11]
| Preceded by Joseph G. Tregle Jr. | President of theLouisiana Historical Association 1962–1963 | Succeeded by |
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