Alwyn Barr

Chester Alwyn Barr, Jr. (born January 18, 1938) is an American historian who specializes in African American studies, the American South, the American Civil War, and Reconstruction. He is a professor emeritus and former chairman of the history department at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Barr was the only child of Chester A. Barr, Sr. (1885-1973), a native of Austin, and the former Wilma Matlock (1905-1987). Barr received his Bachelor of Arts (1959), Master of Arts (1961), and Ph.D. (1966) from the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the Texas Tech faculty in 1969.

Works

Barr's primary research focus on the history of the Civil War, Reconstruction, the American South, and African Americans. His publications include Polignac's Texas Brigade (published while he was still in graduate school in 1964, second edition, 1998), a study of Prince Polignac and the Texan soldiers who fought in 1864 in the Battle of Mansfield in northwestern Louisiana. A monument to the Texan soldiers was dedicated at the site on the centennial of the Civil War battle in April 1964. His first major monograph came out in 1971, Reconstruction to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876-1906 (now in a second edition, 2000). Next came the first edition (1973) of Black Texans: A History of African-Americans in Texas, 1528-1971 that he later updated with a new preface, new chapter on 1970-1995, and new index (University of Oklahoma Press, 1996).