The history department was saddened to learn yesterday that Russell 
Linnemann had died. Russell had just completed his 36th year of 
teaching at UTC. He came to UTC in 1970, a year after the private 
university merged with the state system. He received his B.A. degree 
from Grinnell College in 1965.  He earned his M.A. and Ph.d degrees 
in history from the University of Michigan in 1966 and 1972 
respectively.

During his career at UTC, Russell made significant and varied 
contributions to the history department's instructional program.  He 
taught several 100 level introductory courses, including History 102, 
104, 105, and 114.  History 114 (Heroes and Villains) was formerly an 
important cog in the university's general education program. 
Russell's signature upper-level course was a two semester survey of 
the history of SubSaharan Africa. Students who took that course were 
impressed with his deep knowledge of African history. Russell also 
taught another two semester upper-level course on the history of the 
British Empire.  He helped several times to shoulder the load in 
teaching the department's required junior seminar for history and 
secondary education-history majors.  In more recent years, one of 
Russell's favorite offerings was his popular 400 level course on the 
History of the Blues.  Russell was known as a demanding but also 
stimulating teacher.  In 1986, he won UTC's S.G.A. Outstanding 
Teacher award.

Russell's research accomplishments were interdisciplinary in scope. 
He published roughly 20 articles in scholarly journals including The 
Griot, Clio, Western Journal of Black Studies, and Social Science 
Perspective Journal.  In 1982, Louisiana State University press 
published his book, Alain Locke: Reflections on a Modern Renaissance 
Man.  This book was nominated for the Merle Curti award of the 
Organization of American Historians for the best book in American 
intellectual history.  It won the Mary Walker Foundation Award of 
History. For four years, Russell was book review editor for the 
Southern Association of Africanists. He was elected a charter member 
of UTC's Council of Scholars in 1985.

Over the years, Russell received numerous research grants from UTC 
and several national awards.  He won grants to participate in three 
NEH Summer Seminars and in 1988 won a prestigious NEH Summer Stipend. 
He also was awarded a Department of State Scholar-Diplomat Fellowship 
in 1976.

He was best known locally as a passionate advocate for the blues.  He 
said at one time that he had first heard blues music on the radio 
when he was growing up in Jacksonville, Florida and that it was the 
most beautiful music he had ever heard.  That feeling never changed 
for him.  For many years, he hosted a program on local public radio, 
Blues and More.  This show won a prestigious national award in 1999 
for Keeping the Blues Alive from the Blues Foundation.  Russell 
worked tirelessly to help blues artists secure gigs with local clubs 
and was frequently asked by the organizers of Riverbend to secure 
performers.  His personalized automobile license plate read, BLUESDR.

The family will receive visitors this Sunday at the Coulter Chapel of 
the Lane Funeral Home on Ashland Terrace between 6 and 8:30 p.m. 
There will be a graveside service at Mount Olivet Cemetery at 11:00 
a.m. on Monday.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the 
Salvation Army or a charity of your choice.

-- 
James M. (Mike) Russell
Professor & Head
Department of History
Dept. Mail Code #2052
University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
Chattanooga, TN 37403

Phone: 425-4579
Home: 517-0645

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