The Legacy of Dr. Barksdale

Twenty-three years ago, while in graduate school, Dr. Barksdale began working at Galloway. He quickly became a fixture in the Galloway community. He taught American Studies, ran Jug Band, and was always a positive presence in the West Wing hallway. Although he did not initially plan on becoming a teacher, he found a passion for Galloway and his students, leading him into his new career path. Recently, due to COVID, he retired. However, just because he is not here in person does not mean his presence and influence on the community is gone. I was fortunate enough to have Dr. Barksdale as a teacher and as one of his last students, I, like many others, was upset to learn about his unexpected departure.  I was fortunate enough to talk to him for this Elliott exclusive to gain closure for myself and hopefully the rest of the community. 

During his time teaching, Dr. Barksdale was known for taking his history classes beyond the classroom and providing experiential learning opportunities. One of Dr. Barksdale’s favorite memories from his years in the community was taking senior students on field trips and walking tours around downtown Atlanta to look at the historical buildings. He said that when planning these tours, “[he] would just sorta wing it and see what would happen. Usually, [they] would have fun interesting experiences”. During one of these immersive lessons, “people led [he and his students] up onto the roof of a building and [they] were able to see this big panorama of the city.” 

Another memorable moment for Dr. Barskdale was helping his students celebrate the high school chapter in their lives through graduation. He loved participating in graduation in any way that he could. He took on many roles in multiple graduations, from giving the commencement address, to calling out the students, to playing the guitar while students sang. 

Dr. Barskdale’s musical talents were displayed both on the graduation stage and in the Jug Band club. Jug Band was a club where students would get together and play music on instruments such as the harmonica, the washboard, and the banjo, with Dr. Barksdale leading them and strumming along.. His wish for the club is that it will continue, even in his absence. He explained, “that would be something that would make [him] super happy” because “that is very much a thing for us, a Galloway thing, most schools certainly don’t have it.” Many of the students who were especially invested in it graduated, but he is still hopeful that the others in the club continue the legacy. 

Music and his banjo are still a large part of his life. Now that he is faced with more time, he has continued perfecting his skills. According to Dr. Barksdale, he “used to be an okay banjo player, and [he] kinda let that slide, so [he’s] been working on that over the summer.” I think many people in the community can agree that he was more than just okay. You'd often hear music coming from his room and filling the West Wing hallway. 

Along with his music, he has also been “going back to older hobbies that he didn’t have time to work on” such as working in his backyard, reading books, and juggling. He has gotten “all [his] Indian clubs out and has been trying to get the hang of that” again. He says when elaborating on his juggling that as a kid he went from doing some “pretty simple stuff...to juggling flaming torches” and he’s trying to get to that level of jugging expertise again. While Dr. Barksdale has gone from juggling his many responsibilities at Galloway to actually perfecting his juggling skills, one thing is clear, he definitely misses seeing students every day. Over his career, he was able to get “to teach a couple of thousand kids”. 

Due to COVID, he is kept out of the classroom and stuck at his home. He knows that there is a “huge amount of unrest, fear, and anger in the country right now.” Therefore, he also thinks that “Now would be an interesting time to teach an American studies class, but it would also be difficult because you know a lot of people are questioning what we can do with American history and what we should look at [and] how we should look at it.” Although sometimes feeling burnt out through the semi-quarantine lifestyle, he is hopeful that things will begin to look up, not only for himself but also for everyone. 

Because Dr. Barksdale is no longer in his classroom, his many historical artifacts are also gone. If you have ever been in his classroom, you know that it was covered with historical artifacts from floor to ceiling—everything from posters to maps and even a cotton weigher. Many of the artifacts were gifts to him, so he only took what he believed was his when moving out. He said that it was “weird going in and getting all [his] stuff out. That was a bad day”. He was not ready to leave the community, so the realness of moving everything out was difficult for him. The cotton weigher was one of the things that he left. It was given to him by a Galloway family who found it in a building they purchased down by the airport. One day they brought it in and assembled it in his room. The family’s children graduated, but the cotton weigher remained on campus. When arriving at school on the first day of the 2020-2021 school year, all of his artifacts were no longer there. When he found this out, he “guessed they just took all [his] stuff and threw it in the dumpster.” He should know that, after talking to a few people, I found out that all of the artifacts are just in storage.

Dr. Barksdale was able to see the school evolve during his extensive time here . When he arrived, “it was a lot smaller, and there was less structure, and things were a lot more spontaneous.” He was able to see the school grow in number and change in the way things were run. He was also able to see a new viewpoint on education. When Dr. Barksdale was growing up, “you were just supposed to shut up and follow the rules and stay out of trouble.” In contrast, Mr. Galloway “[encouraged] people to want to learn instead of forcing them to.” These ideas helped Dr. Barksdale see what was important in education. 

While “[he’s] afraid [he hasn’t] left much of a legacy on the school itself,” he knows “that a lot of the people [he has] taught have gone on to study history or some of the people in jug band are now professional musicians.” Dr. Barksdale’s legacy on the Galloway School is being lived out through students all over the country in their daily lives because of what he has taught them. 

“When [he] decided to retire, [he] did hear from a lot of people, and they were very grateful and said really sweet stuff”; this proved what an enormous impact Dr. Barksdale had on the school and the students themselves. 

Dr. Barksdale had a tremendous influence on The Galloway School, and although it has come to an abrupt end, he still misses seeing our faces and being a part of the community. He “[imagines] at some point down the road [he’ll] do some teacher stuff again. [He thinks he still has] got a few lessons left in [him].To the Class of 2021 and Dr. Barksdale’s final students of this teaching career, Dr. Barksdale wants you to know “[he] hopes you will continue to be interested in things and want to continue to understand the world. Just know that right now, it seems like you are in an awful situation, but maybe it will give you a better perspective on things later down the road.”

Thank you Dr. Barksdale for all you’ve done to shape Galloway and leave your mark on the community. You are greatly missed.