Dr. Sarah Myers is an assistant professor of history at Messiah University. Her interests and areas of expertise as a historian include U.S. women’s and gender history, public history, oral history, peace & conflict studies, human rights, veterans studies, aviation, and war and society. The following are her responses to interview questions written by the history department work studies.
Question: What courses are you teaching this semester?
Dr. Myers: HIST 142: U.S. History since 1865 and HIST 397: Museums, Monuments, and Memorials.
Q: In you work as a historian, what is one of the most interesting subjects that you have researched?
A: The Women Air Force Service Pilots of World War II! These women served in what eventually became known as the Air Force and flew planes in the continental U.S. during the war. They performed a lot of dangerous work including towing targets for airmen to practice shooting live ammunition at the targets! These women wanted to be taken seriously as professionals and as pilots but unfortunately, they were honorably discharged in 1944. Women could not fly planes again for any branch of the U.S. military until the 1970s. It’s such a heartbreaking story.
Q:How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your work as a professor and as a historian?
A: As a professor, I’ve had to learn new ways of communicating with both remote and in-person students. I’ve tried to care well for students by checking in with them and being flexible by reassessing workloads and adjusting as the semester unfolds. As a historian, I do not have access to archives for primary source research, although fortunately I am at a stage where I am editing rather than researching. It has been difficult maintaining focus and drive while isolated at home due to quarantining. I read an article in The Atlantic the other day, “Late-Stage Pandemic Is Messing With Your Brain,” so I know I am not alone in this.
Q: What is something you have learned from history that is applicable in other areas of your life?
A: That we should always speak up and fight for justice on behalf of the oppressed in our society when we are in positions of power and privilege. Silence is always complicity and remaining inactive supports oppressors and the systems that oppress. There is no social healing for us as a nation without coming to terms with our past.
We would like to thank Dr. Myers for her wonderful responses and her thoughtful words regarding the importance of history in regards to seeing social change around us!
History on the Bridge 