David Brodnax, Sr.

assistant professor of history

on faculty since 2005

Phone: 708.239.4748
Fax: 708.597.5858
E-mail: david.brodnax@trnty.edu

Education

Ph.D., Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 2007
M.A., Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 2000
J.D., University of Iowa College of Law, Iowa City, 1999
B.A., Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois, 1996

Professional and Personal Interests

If you step into a class taught by David Brodnax, Sr., you learn very quickly that God and history are inseparable.

“At Trinity, I can more fully discuss the key role that religion has played in human history, including not only the positive impact that it has had on the world, but also the ways that some people have misused God’s Word to harm the world.”

Brodnax believes that teaching and writing about history is one way to bring about social justice. He contends that many of the problems in the world are caused by a lack of understanding of history and the impact of the past on the present.   

“The book of Exodus tells us that when a new pharaoh ‘who did not know Joseph’ came to power, he began oppressing the Israelites. I have always taken this as an important lesson that demonstrates the importance of knowing history.

“If young people are made more aware of the past, they are more likely to make socially responsible decisions in their own lives. For example, many Trinity students have not been exposed to a great deal of racial, ethnic, or religious diversity before coming to college, so I feel it is my responsibility to help them expand their understanding of this world before they enter it as gainfully employed adults.”

Brodnax received his bachelor’s degree in history at Illinois Wesleyan University. He earned a law degree at the University of Iowa before receiving a master’s in history at Northwestern University. In the spring of 2007, Brodnax successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at Northwestern. He joined the faculty at Trinity Christian College in 2005.

He enjoys seeing his students grow intellectually through their hard work and hearing them talk about how his classes have exposed them to historical events and ideas that they never heard before.

Outside the classroom, Brodnax enjoys swimming, lifting weights, and drawing. He lives in Calumet City, Illinois, with his son, David Jr., and attends Covenant United Church of Christ in South Holland, Illinois.

Courses Taught

• African American Religion
• African History
• America and Western Civilization
• Blacks in Latin America
• Black Resistance in the United States, 1700-1970
• Cities in America
• Civil Rights Movement
• Europe and Western Civilization
• Latin American History
• Slavery in the Western Hemisphere, 1510-1888
• U.S. History, 1865-1920

Professional Society Membership

• Alpha Kappa Delta International Sociology Honor Society
• Law and Society Association
• Organization of American Historians
• Phi Alpha Delta International Law Fraternity
• Phi Alpha Theta International History Honor Society

Papers Published and/or Presented

• “A Mistaken Zeal,” Black Communities and White Resistance in Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1840. Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Minneapolis. April 2007.
• “The Creator Painted Such of the First of Mankind as Were Worth the Blackening,” African Americans in Sioux City, Iowa, 1860-1910. Northern Great Plains History Conference, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. October 2006.
• “The Mob Was in Complete Control,” Racial Violence and the Law in Davenport, 1869-1905. Law and Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore. July 2006.
• “A Desperate Fight for His Liberty,” The African American Legacy in Burlington, 1830-1900. Southeastern Community College, West Burlington, Iowa. March 2006.
• “Notoriously Good Citizens,” African Americans in the Mining Towns of Southern Iowa, 1879-1930. Great Lakes History Conference, Grand Rapids, Michigan. October 2005.
• “You Shall Not Eat Here,” Race, Gender and Respectability in Emma Coger’s Battle against Segregation on the Upper Mississippi, 1872-1873. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Las Vegas. June 2005.
• “We Came Here to Get Peace,” African American Community and Political Life in the Nodaway Valley, 1840-1910. Missouri Valley History Conference, Omaha. March 2005.
• “The Equality of Right,” Alexander Clark, Sr. and the Desegregation of Iowa’s Public Schools, 1839-1875. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Chicago. May 2004.
• “Black Hawkeyes: African-Americans in the Making of Iowa, 1804-1900.” Musser Public Library, Muscatine, Iowa. February 2004.
• “Unless in the Presence of Five Respectable Slaveholders,” Black Preachers, White Control, and Alabama’s Legal Response to the 1831 Nat Turner Rebellion,” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh. June 2003.