Heath Anderson is a Ph.D. candidate in History at Mississippi State University. He is currently writing his dissertation on how nineteenth-century Americans' understandings of "civilization" impacted the course of Reconstruction, with a particular focus on events in Mississippi and Louisiana. Heath received his B.A. and M.A. in history from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2017 and 2019 respectively. His Master's thesis focused on Confederate General and postwar politician William Mahone and his leadership of Virginia's biracial Readjuster Party during the 1880s.