Christian Pinnen Selected Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year

MC history professor Christian Pinnen

Professor Christian Pinnen’s academic expertise stretches from the American Revolution to issues of race and slavery in USA history. The Mississippi College scholar is the author of two forthcoming books.

His academic work is well-respected by his peers on the Clinton campus and beyond. The Mississippi Council for Humanities salutes Dr. Pinnen as its Teacher of the Year as a new decade begins.

The MC history professor will deliver a February 18 lecture at the Jean Pittman Williams Recital Hall on the topic of slavery in the United States. Presented by the Council for the Humanities and MC, the annual event is free. Open to the public, Tuesday’s program in the Aven Fine Arts Building begins at 6 p.m.

His lecture is titled “1619” or the “Myths and Memories of Slavery in the United States.”

A native of Bonn, Germany, Pinnen lives in Jackson.

An associate professor on the university’s Department of History and Political Science, Pinnen joined the MC faculty in 2012. He received his doctorate at the University of Southern Mississippi.

The Mississippian teaches such subjects as U.S. history, the history of the Old South, Latin American survey, the American Revolution and American slavery.

To be published in 2021 is Pinnen’s new book titled “A Borrowed Land: A Colonial History of Mississippi.” It will be published by the Jackson-based University Press of Mississippi. His book “Complexion of Empire in Natchez: Race and Slavery in the Mississippi Borderlands” will be published in 2022 by the University of Georgia Press.

At the moment, Dr. Pinnen is also working on a National Park Service grant. He’s researching the history of the “Forks of the Road” Slave Market in Natchez.

Each winter, stellar Mississippi College professors are selected for the Mississippi Council for the Humanities honor and give a talk on the Clinton campus.

Last year’s recipient was John Meadors, chair of the MC Department of English and Philosophy. Other winners of the award in recent years include Beth Stapleton when she chaired the MC Modern Languages Department. Stapleton now serves as director of MC’s new Edward McMillan Center for Education Abroad. History professor Steven Patterson presented the humanities series lecture in 2015.

There will be a reception for audience members and Dr. Pinnen following his Tuesday evening talk in the Aven Fine Arts Building lobby.