Faculty Focus: Judith Dann

Campus News | Monday, September 16, 2024

Growing up in an 1820-era house that had been on the Underground Railroad helped inspire Judith Dann to pursue a career in history. She has fond memories of that Worthington childhood home. “We found a document that appears to confirm it was on the Railroad,” said Dann. “When you closed the door to a small coal room in the basement, you could not tell there was even a door there.” Unfortunately, before Dann and her family could get the structure listed as historical, developers tore it down in the 1980s.

She is now a Columbus State professor of world history and the classics, focusing on ancient Greece and Rome from 2500 BC to A.D. 15th century. Her father – Josiah Blackmore – provided inspiration for her career. He was a history lover and a public figure in central Ohio. After earning a law degree, Blackmore served as a professor and dean at the Capital University Law School. He then served as Capital’s president from 1987-98. (Considering Dann’s mother and both of Dann’s grandmothers were first-grade teachers, she’s a third-generation educator.)

In high school, Dann’s classes included Latin and the classics. While on the one hand, she wanted to continue that path in college, she had second thoughts. “I really needed a degree I could use for a career, and I didn’t think Latin would work, so I planned on a pre-law degree at Miami University and majored in Philosophy.”

That didn’t last very long. During her sophomore year, she took a survey course in art history. “I loved it,” said Dann. “I called my parents and they said, ‘If you love it, go for it.’ I changed my major the next day!” Her dad also gave her this advice: “When you have a passion for something, teach it.”

The path was set in stone. Dann earned a bachelor’s degree in the classics from Miami in 1988. Then it was on to The Ohio State University (OSU), where she received a master’s degree in ancient Greek and Latin in 1991 and a Ph.D. in Ancient History in 1999.

During her doctoral studies, she had the opportunity to work for three summers at an excavation site in Isthmia, Greece from 1990 to 1992. The on-site team was excavating a Roman bathhouse and discovered a Greek pool dating to 500 B.C. (The Greeks had dedicated the site to the god Poseidon.)

“There are four cities where the ancient Greek Olympic Games were held, and that was one of the sites,” said Dann. “In fact, that’s where the ‘four-year’ cycle for the current Olympics stems from. Although they held the games every year, rotating through each location, we now use the four-year interval with the modern Olympic Games.”

It was during her second summer at the excavation site that Dann met her husband, Mark Dann. He was an OSU graduate student in landscape architecture who was surveying the bathhouse,” she said. “With his computer, he could ‘rebuild’ the bathhouse. It was one of the first times someone used that technology in archaeology.” (His innovative work earned some national recognition and a National Geographic grant, which led to another project.)

During her doctoral work, Dann was a teaching assistant at OSU. She followed that as an adjunct instructor at Columbus State and Capital, Franklin, and Ohio Dominican universities. She also married and had her first of three children during that period.

To raise a family, Dann and her husband moved to Homer, near Granville, in 2000. That’s where a historical figure from the small town sparked a brand-new historical interest for her. Victoria Woodhull was from Homer. Woodhull would later become the first female presidential candidate for a political party. The Equal Rights Party nominated her in 1872 – decades before women even had the right to vote! Ex-slave Fredrick Douglass was her running mate.  

Dann said she did not recall ever learning about Woodhull. “When I told my dad I was moving to Homer, he said, ‘You know who was born there? Victoria Woodhull.’” Dann said she was hooked and started doing research. The only thing she found locally was a state historical marker with a brief summary of Woodhull’s life. I went to an encyclopedia first and expanded from there.

Over the years, she uncovered a colorful life. Among the numerous facts about Woodhull: she was the first female stockbroker – along with her sister – on Wall Street in 1870. Dann also discovered that her paternal family bloodline is related to Woodhull’s maternal bloodline, making them very distant relatives.

Dann has been on the board and worked with the Robbins Hunter Museum in Granville for years to document Woodhull’s life and times and recreate the family ancestry. They’ve acquired a replica of a dress from a New York museum that Woodhull wore on Wall Street. The Robbins Hunter Museum now has a space dedicated to Woodhull. It’s the only known museum memorial of its type. And outside, there is a whimsical Woodhull clock that sounds every hour on the hour.

All of the research has made Dann somewhat of a nationally known expert on Woodhull’s life. She’s been quoted in publications and recent books on the topic, including, “Out of the Shadows” and “Victoria Woodhull: Shattering Glass Ceilings.” Columbus State is listed in the bibliography of “Glass Ceiling.” Dann was also quoted in a 2016 USA Today article. 

Dann has also created a website – Woodhull Rising – as a hub to bring in experts from all fields. There have also been a series of roundtable discussions based on Woodhull’s life, which has brought scholars together to determine “what we can learn about contemporary issues based on her life and advocacy.” (Woodhull Woman of Achievement Awards link.)

In some classes, Dann uses Woodhull’s life story – she was from a poor family and self-educated – to inspire students. Despite so many hardships, she rose to be a famous woman in that period. “It shows that any person with determination can succeed.”

Speaking generally, Dann said, “You need to study history not only to be a good citizen but to be a good human being. Education brings peace.” For all of her classes, she has Zoom as an option for students. “Even students who usually attend in person sometimes have a child care or medical issue who will attend virtually for a day,” said Dann. “I’ve seen better student retention since I started offering that option for every class. And some students have told me, ‘I couldn’t have done it had it not been for that virtual option.’”

In the near term, Dann is developing a course tentatively called “Latin for the professional.” She is also working to get a Classics major approved and creating a “Women in the Ancient Mediterranean” class. Dann continues to teach Latin in the classroom and for online students. (One Bowling Green student who took her course online for convenience told her it was the only online Latin class in the state and this region.) Dann said, “Latin is the basis of law, science, and medicine. There are many professionals – and soon-to-be professionals – who would benefit from such a course.” 

 

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