Enoch Marvin Banks

Enoch Marvin Banks (November 28, 1877 – November 21, 1911) was an American historian and professor at the University of Florida. In 1911, after the publication of an article attributing the cause of the American Civil War to slavery and criticizing the role of the Confederacy, he was forced to resign.

Enoch died shortly after his resignation.

Early life and education Banks was born on November 28, 1877. He completed his undergraduate studies at Emory College, graduating in 1897, and earned a master's degree from the same school in 1900. He received a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1905. He wrote his dissertation on the economics of land tenure in Georgia.

Career Banks held various teaching positions after earning his Ph.D., teaching at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, along with a short stint in Germany. In 1907 he became a professor of history and economics at the University of Florida. This claim was in direct opposition to the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, a commonly held racist belief in the South, and quickly sparked outrage, both in Florida and across the region.

A coalition of confederate organizations quickly joined together to call for Banks' resignation, including the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the United Confederate Veterans. Other public defenders of Banks included prominent Southern economist James W. Garner and Andrew Sledd.

Later life and legacy After resigning, Banks moved to Newnan, Georgia. Only a few months later, on November 21, 1911, he died from an unknown illness. Later analyses of Banks' article and the episode as a whole have noted that Banks was not a progressive on issues of race and that even within the article, he explicitly opposed granting Black citizens the right to vote. Banks' papers are held by Emory University.