This article discusses the qualitative interviewing techniques that the authors used to conduct their respective dissertation research in Jamaica and South Carolina. (The research in Jamaica examined the implementation of primary education policies. The research in South Carolina delved into the life history of Benner C. Turner, a controversial college president.) Most of the literature about interviewing focuses on asking the right questions; in contrast, this article discusses the challenges of interviewing. In this article, selected interviews are used from both studies to examine the difficulties these researchers encountered when conducting "sensitive" interviews, the risks female researchers face in unfamiliar places, and the challenges of working in international settings (which requires interpersonal skills and cultural competency). While the task of research interviewing is complex, the authors provide ideas that can be used to navigate such moments.

African American history is indeed a dynamic discipline that can be used as a framework to understand the present lives of African Americans as well as the broader American society. As a university professor who values social media as a useful tool in the traditional classroom, I am most interested in using it in my introductory African American history course to make history relevant to my students, especially since a social media post accompanied with a popular hash tag has the ability go viral and reach a wider audience than a traditional academic paper. Many instructors are looking for opportunities to engage students in social and intellectual discourse about history. This article will deconstruct social media posts associated with the hash tag Colin Kaepernick or the like as a teaching strategy to help students enrolled in an introductory African American history course. The idea is to put their learning into practice by encouraging them to actively engage with others on topics relevant to the course content. This article will demonstrate that although the discourse surrounding Kaepernick is polarizing, it is an excellent pedagogical strategy to help students put their learning into practice and engage with a wider audience on topics discussed in an introductory African American history course.

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In wake of the violent and deadly events in Charlottesville and President Donald Trump’s response in which he effectively defended the Neo-Nazis and Confederate monuments, it’s important that college students understand the Lost Cause movement, the building of Confederate monuments and how college campuses are affected.  In preparation for the fall 2017 semester, I revised my AFS 310 African Americans and U.S. Education syllabus in which I devoted the first five weeks of the semester to interrogating the aftermath of Charlottesville and this nation’s Confederate legacies on college campuses.  Centering the unit’s theme on “The Lost Cause and the Collegiate Idea,” this article will discuss in depth the unit I taught as well as student assessment and outcomes upon completion of the unit.