Award-winning Civil War historian Stephen Oates dies at 85

AMHERST, Mass. – Stephen B. Oates, an award-winning Civil War historiographer who wrote biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Clara Barton, William Faulkner and others, has died. He was 85.

Oates died Friday astatine his Amherst location surrounded by household aft a conflict with cancer, officials astatine the University of Massachusetts Amherst, wherever helium was a prof from 1968 until 1997, said successful a statement.

Oates received the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights publication grant successful 1983. In 1993, the Civil War Round Table of Chicago awarded him the Nevins Freeman Award for Civil War assistance and biography.

He was besides a cardinal advisor connected filmmaker Ken Burns' 1990 documentary bid “The Civil War."

“Stephen was an highly invaluable advisor to our Civil War bid and an informed and passionate participant,” Burns said successful a connection released by UMass. “He knew the bottom-up communicative arsenic good arsenic the top-down one, but much importantly, helium knew and appreciated the immense stakes for the United States and so the satellite successful a Union victory.”

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He earned the RFK Center grant for “Let The Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.”

“Stephen had a endowment for bringing past to life. The characters and events helium chronicled travel disconnected the pages to unrecorded successful our imaginations and substance our knowing of our history,” said Kerry Kennedy, president of the RFK Center according to UMass.

He called his biographies of King, Lincoln, Nat Turner and John Brown his “Civil War quartet.”

“They humanize the motivation paradox of slavery and radical oppression successful a onshore based connected the ideals of the Declaration of Independence," helium wrote successful a 1986 essay.

“All 4 were driven, visionary men, each were caught up successful the issues of slavery and race, and each devised their ain solutions to those inflammable problems," helium wrote. "And each perished, too, successful the conflicts and hostilities that surrounded the quest for equality successful their country.”

Oates was a semifinalist and metallic medal victor successful the nationalist Professor of the Year competition, sponsored by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, earned awards for teaching astatine UMass, and was 1 of the school's astir sought-after professors.

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“The Department of History astatine the University of Massachusetts Amherst has mislaid 1 of the starring teachers and writers successful its history,” section Chair Brian W. Ogilvie said.

Oates was calved successful Pampa, Texas, successful 1936 and earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas. He is survived by 2 children and 4 grandchildren. His erstwhile wife, Helen Oates, died successful 2019.

Funeral services are private. A memorial work is planned astatine UMass Amherst successful the spring.

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