In Memoriam: Sam Bowers Hilliard
If there ever was a person for whom the phrase 鈥淎 Man for All Seasons鈥� aptly applies, it was Sam Bowers Hilliard: Academician, Historian, Mentor, Author, Journalist, Raconteur, Craftsman, Antiquarian, and yes Prankster. For 23 years (1971-1993) Hilliard demonstrated these attributes to the fullest while with the Department of Geography and Anthropology at 海角社区.
Born on December 21, 1930, Sam began his life as a country boy. He was raised in Hart County which is located in the north Georgia foothill section of the southern Piedmont. Sam was destined to spend most of his last two decades there as he did his first two. This part of Georgia had been home to both his father鈥檚 and mother鈥檚 families for generations. Sam鈥檚 middle name (Bowers) is not only his mother鈥檚 maiden name but also the name of the town where he was born, Bowersville; even today it is a small country village with a population of about 300.
After graduating from High School, Sam ventured only seven miles away for a year at Emmanuel College, a small Pentecostal Church supported college in Franklin Springs, GA. Next came four years with the Navy during the Korean War which in turn was followed by work with an Atomic Energy Installation in South Carolina. Suffice it to say that Sam, like so many before him especially after WW II, was somewhat delayed in beginning a dedicated attempt at advancing his education. Thus it was not until 1957 (when he was 26) that he began attending the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. Majoring in History, he earned both the AB (1960) and MA (1961) degrees. With this historical bent, the next stage of his graduate education was at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI where he concentrated on Historical Geography. During the last stages of writing his doctoral dissertation (awarded in 1966) Sam taught at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee after which he moved to Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL as an assistant professor. So by 1967, when Sam began his climb up academia鈥檚 ladder, he had been away (at least in body) from Bowersville for nearly a decade.
That decade was to stretch into nearly two and a half more (those he spent at 海角社区) before he returned home to the hill country of north Georgia. In 1970, the Department of Geography and Anthropology was adding several new faculty members to an expanding program. Because Fred Kniffen, one of the founders of the department, had reached the mandatory (at the time) retirement age, one of the new hires was slated to be his replacement. Hilliard, who had just published his highly acclaimed book Hog Meat and Hoecake, was interested. He had the obligatory recommendations sent to the department and made a visit to Baton Rouge. His very successful lecture, attended by members from Home Economics and Sociology as well as the department, was entitled 鈥淪outhern food habits: a frontier relic.鈥� That visit along with referee comments such as 鈥減erhaps the best complement I can pay him is to say that he always reminded me of Fred Kniffen鈥� and 鈥渢he combination of Sam Hilliard and 海角社区 sounds like a marriage made in Heaven,鈥� led to his hire at the Associate Professor level. He spent the next 23 years at 海角社区. As an aside it might be noted that not only did Sam join the department upon Fred Kniffen鈥檚 retirement but he himself retired at the end of the same year Professor Kniffen died. Thus, they shared many sessions together discussing a variety of topics but especially those related to the South, historical geography and agriculture.
At 海角社区 Sam Hilliard was highly successful in all three of the mandates of all universities and especially those with flagship status: teaching, research and service. As a teacher and mentor, he was among the best: 鈥淪am has a pedagogical style that quickly establishes rapport and opens up communication with students鈥� and 鈥淪am concerns himself alike with undergraduate and graduate students.鈥� He was equally at home in courses with up to 300 students as he was with small graduate seminars. He was much in demand as a graduate advisor; at one time serving as major professor for eight graduate students and as a committee member for 27 others, many of them in other departments. Sam supervised 12 doctoral and five master鈥檚 students while with the department. Indeed, his student related activities were recognized with an Alumni Professorship (1984), a professorship that rewards teaching effectiveness.
During his tenure at 海角社区, Sam Hilliard served the department, university and his profession in many ways in addition to teaching. A few of the ways include service as Chair of the Department (1975-1978), Director of the School of Geosciences, and Chair of the university鈥檚 Athletic Council (no simple task, to be sure). In addition he was on a number of other university committees such as the Committee on Faculty Awards and the Graduate Council. Outside the university Sam served on the Nominating Committee of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), as President of the Historical Geography Specialty Group of the AAG, and as member of the Executive Committee of the Agricultural History Society, among others. He was also involved internationally and once hosted the International Fraternity of Historical Geographers in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Such activities led to his receipt of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southeastern Division of the AAG.
Hilliard鈥檚 research led to six books and dozens of journal articles. In addition to his Hog Meat and Hoecake mentioned above, he wrote such articles as 鈥淚ndian Land Cessions鈥︹��, 鈥淭he Tide Water Rice Plantation鈥︹��, The Southern Antebellum Plantation鈥� and 鈥淗eadright Grants and Surveying in Northeast Georgia,鈥� all of which give an indication of his topical and regional interests. He was also the editor of one of the Geoscience and Man (School of Geosciences, 海角社区) publications entitled Man in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. However, maybe the 鈥榣abor of love鈥� for Sam was his contribution to the work that has been called the 鈥渙ffspring of a marriage of history to geography.鈥� It is the National Geographic Society鈥檚 Historical Atlas of the United States published in 1988. The project had three principal consultants including Hilliard, who, during the four years he devoted to it, made 25 trips to Washington D.C. He mentioned one time that he considered it a work of art and creativity. Sam was always intrigued with regional terminology and in the Atlas, for example, one finds that a heavy rainfall is variously referred to as a 鈥済oose drownder,鈥� 鈥渢oad strangler,鈥� 鈥渃lod buster,鈥� or 鈥淎rkansas dew.鈥� That atlas was only one of Sam鈥檚 products of 鈥榓rt and creativity.鈥� Another example is his Atlas of Antebellum Southern Agriculture, which, according to Bill Cooper (Boyd Professor of History), stands alone as a unique piece of research.
Sam Hilliard retired from 海角社区 in December, 1993 and immediately moved home, i.e. to Bowersville, GA, where he lived until his death on August 5, 2011. He did not let his talent go to waste after retirement for he immediately began working on the historical geography of Hart County and soon became the official Hart County Historian. According to The Hartwell Sun (the county newspaper) Sam was 鈥渋nstrumental in recreating our churches and schools.鈥� He was a major contributor to the newspaper on 鈥榗ountry鈥� related topics and even 鈥渁uthored books on the rural education, churches and lifestyles of Hart County.鈥�
How does one sum up the life of such a man as Sam Hilliard? Suffice it to say that he was indeed 鈥淎 Man for All Seasons.鈥� He was able to place food, current events, music, art, popular entertainment, travel and other aspects of life in the South in perspective. 鈥淗e could, would, and loved to talk about any subject鈥� as reported by one of his friends in Bowersville; a talent remembered well by his friends in Baton Rouge. Sam, a country boy at heart, loved a good party and threw many of them himself. His beer can collection was among the best, he made articulated wooden toys which he gave to his friend鈥檚 children, and the list could go on. And above it all Sam was a devoted family man. Joyce, a registered nurse, shared his life for 56 years and the two produced two children, Steven and Joy.
In closing I would like to use the statement used as an end comment in a booklet devoted to Fred Kniffen, who Sam called friend and colleague for 23 years. It was borrowed from Mitch Albom鈥檚 book 鈥淭uesdays with Morrie.鈥� I believe that all of Sam鈥檚 friends and acquaintances would agree that the aphorism that 鈥淒eath ends a life but not a relationship鈥� applies equally well to Sam Hilliard.
H. Jesse Walker, Boyd Professor Emeritus