Dr. Rachel K. Deale is a graduate of the University of Alabama where she studied Secondary Education and Social Sciences. She continued her education at the University of Alabama and earned her Master of Arts and Ph.D. in History. Prior to coming to Barton College, she taught as an adjunct instructor at the University of Alabama and Shelton State Community College. She has served as editor for the Southern Historian, a graduate journal in southern history; received research fellowships from the Virginia Historical Society and the Alabama Department of Archives and History; and worked as an athletics tutor. Her current manuscript project analyzes the Southern seizure of federal forts, arsenals, custom houses, post offices, and courthouses before the firing on Fort Sumter.