Monday, September 7, 2009
Hubert D. Humphreys had great impact on me as a person, on my moral and intellectual development, and (later) on me as a teacher. When my future trophy wife and I enjoyed ourselves too much in his class, he took us aside and calmly explained just what was obnoxious about our behavior, and why it was counter-productive; it was more effective than punishment. When President Kennedy was assassinated, his American History was my first class after the news was announced at lunch; when some classmates enthused over the assassination, Mr. Humphreys shushed them with tears in his eyes. When the Louisiana Legislature cancelled regular classes for a week “Americanism,” which Caddo Parish interpreted as stuffy uncomfortable assemblies to screen the notorious CIA propaganda film about the encroaching Red menace, or endure mind-numbing lectures from poorly-informed local businessmen, in the middle of all that Mr. Humphreys rose, as the presenter for one session, to propose that most people in the world were not unfathomable aliens, but were pretty much like we were, wanted the same security and peaceful family life that we wanted, and all of a sudden, out of the ultra-conservative, red-neck provincialism of 1960’s Shreveport, a whole new world of possibilities opened to me. Through my 24 years of college teaching, Hubert Humphreys was never very far from my mind as the model of what I hoped to be for my students. We were fortunate to have him. I know I am grateful.
