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Be Bold
One Town, Many Voices focused on providing an inclusive account of Davidson’s residents throughout the years.
Getting to Know One of Davidson’s Own Historian and Author Ralph B. Levering
BY » Elizabeth Watson Chaney PHOTOS COURTESY OF » Ralph Levering
Ralph Levering has always desired to communicate with others, whether through teaching or the written word.
He came to Davidson with his family in 1986 after being offered a position teaching history at the college. By the time he retired in 2017, he had been awarded the title of Vail Professor, an endowed chair. One of his more popular courses was one on Vietnam, and he was diligent about seeking out speakers (both veterans as well as conscientious objectors). In a popular app known as “Rate My Professor,” more than one student referred to the class as “one of the best courses on campus.”
Levering loved teaching and was known for caring deeply about his students, but the same can be said for his feelings about the town. “I’ve just loved living here. There’s real value,” he says, “in a place small enough that people know their neighbors.” He and his wife, Patricia Webb Levering, raised two sons in Davidson. She passed away in 2019, but their marriage lasted more than 52 years. She was also a teacher and writer, as well as a nationally known speaker in the Quaker community. “Her life, friendships, and ministry,” wrote Levering of his wife, “were modeled after Dr. Martin Luther King’s Beloved Community.” A faith-based journey
The two met in high school in Mount Airy, and faith was among the many things they had in common. She was raised in a Baptist church, and he is the son of orchard farmers, who were also Quaker peace activists. “They believed that ordinary people could make the world a better place,” says Levering. Those views inspired, at least in part,
the focus of his career as a historian: the politics of diplomacy. During his career, he wrote many books, but there is one of which he is especially proud, because he cowrote it with his mother Miriam Levering: Citizen Action for Global Change. Including all voices
Another book he cowrote, this one with Jan Blodgett, Davidson College’s archivist for 23 years, was One Town, Many Voices, published in 2012. A previous book on the subject by Mary D. Beaty’s (1979), A History of Davidson, focused on the prosperous and educated. Blodgett and Levering’s book was a conscious effort to write a more inclusive history. They interviewed a total of 78 locals from all walks of life, taking special care to include the perspective of African Americans, the poor, and women.
His wrote several books on the Cold War which were read on college campuses as well as by the general public. These include: The Cold War, 1945-1987; The Cold War: A-Post Cold War History; and Debating the Origins of The Cold War: American and Russian Perspectives. Despite his expertise in this subject, he learned a new Cold War fact which he was unaware of until he stumbled upon it while researching the history of Davidson for One Town, Many Voices. Although small, the town was very prominent in the bomb shelter movement of the 1960s and was considered at the forefront of civil defense in North Carolina.
Although retired from teaching Levering continues to write, and says what he loves about it, is that it’s “tremendously creative.” Currently, he is working on two new projects: a book of his wife’s writings, Thirsting for Life, and another book whose working title is Seven Who Matter: Great Social and Political Thinkers from the
1930s to the Present. Among those that made the cut: Martin Luther King, Jr., Reinhold Niebuhr, and Betty Friedan. It’s easy to imagine him deep in conversation with any one of them. But if they address him as Professor Levering, in true Quaker fashion, he’s likely to respond, “Please call me Ralph.”
Dream It. Plan It. Pursue It. SM
