Augusta University
Dr. David Bulla
AUGUSTA, Ga. (January 23, 2026)—Author and historian Carol Sue Humphrey will deliver the 2026 Future of the First Amendment Lecture on Tuesday, March 10, at 7 p.m. in the JSAC’s Coffeehouse on Augusta University’s Summerville Campus.
Humphrey’s talk, titled “Ideas about the Freedom of the Press during the 1770s-1790s,” will explore the foundational context of American freedom of the press as the nation nears its 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this coming Fourth of July. Humphrey is an expert on the press of the Revolution and the first few decades of the Republic, the War of 1812, and the New England press in early American history.
“The focus of the presentation will be thoughts and ideas about the freedom of the press expressed during the early years of the United States, particularly the Revolution,” Humphrey said.
A native of North Carolina, Dr. Humphrey received her B.A. in history from UNC-Wilmington, her M.A. in American history from Wake Forest University and her Ph.D. in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of The Press of the Young Republic, 1683-1833 from Greenwood Press. She also wrote The American Revolution and the Press: The Promise of Independence with David Copeland (Northwestern University Press) and This Popular Engine: New England Newspapers During the American Revolution, 1775-1789 (University of Delaware Press).
Dr. Humphrey is a professor emerita of history at Oklahoma Baptist University and has been a member of the American Journalism Historians Association since giving a paper at the AJHA annual conference in 1986. She was the long-time secretary for AJHA, providing leadership and promoting membership to the organization. In 2009, Oklahoma Baptist gave her its Distinguished Teaching Award. She also served as a grader for the ETS Advanced Placement U.S. history exams.
In previous years, legal counsel for Student Press Law Center Executive Director Gary Green, CNN Attorney Frank LoMonte, Freedom Forum Executive Director Gene Policinski and National Coalition Against Censorship Executive Director Lee Rowland have been the guest speakers for the Future of the First Amendment Lecture.
The lecture is co-sponsored by the Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and the AU Libraries. Support also comes from the AU Department of Communication, the AU Student Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Phoenix, the Bell Ringer and JagNews, as well as The Augusta Press.
The AU Student SPJ Chapter will be giving out Champion of the First Amendment Awards after Professor Humphrey’s talk.
For more information, contact David Kerns, senior library assistant of AU Libraries, or David Bulla, chair of the AU Department of Communication (dbulla@augusta.edu).
