Welcome to the Spring 2024 newsletter from the Department of History. It has been an unusually busy semester in the halls of ten Hoor, and as we come into the home stretch in the aftermath of Spring Break and begin looking toward the summer, we have a great deal to trumpet and celebrate. Since the publication of the last edition of the newsletter, we have hosted numerous successful and well-attended conferences, speaker visits, and events, and we look forward to […]
On March 1, 2024, Dr. Lesley J. Gordon, along with fellow Civil War historians Dr. Susannah Ural and Dr. Timothy B. Smith, coordinated a staff ride to Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee. UA history undergraduate and graduate students, along with UA and Mississippi State Army ROTC cadets, officers, and MSU graduate students, toured the battlefield to learn about Civil War tactics, command, and enduring lessons of leadership. Staff rides and battlefield tours help students and cadets understand key concepts […]
Read More from Students and Faculty Tour Shiloh National Military Park
Dr. Andrew Huebner, Professor of Modern U.S. History at The University of Alabama, was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Public Scholars Grant in August to support his current book project, titled “Buffalo Soldiers and the Making of United States Empire, 1866–1917.”
Associate Professor and Associate Provost Erik Peterson’s Understanding Charles Darwin was released on September 15 by Cambridge University Press.
Read More from Dr. Erik Peterson Publishes Understanding Charles Darwin
Last March, Associate Professor Sharony Green signed a book contract with Routledge for Teaching Public History in Alabama: About (Public) Face, a work that intends to build upon her students’ responses to her efforts to help them reenvision our shared historical spaces, as well explore the ways in which Green was unintentionally and intentionally taught history using the public spaces around her. In the work, Green will reflect upon how that push for a more immersive historical experience not only […]
On February 23-24, The University of Alabama and the Department of History hosted the 15th annual Southeastern German Studies Conference. The event, held in cooperation with The University of Alabama at Birmingham, The University of Alabama at Huntsville, and Spring Hill College, brought together scholars and students from across the Southeast in all disciplines who share interest in the language, literature, history, culture, music, film, and political structures of the German-speaking lands. The workshop focused on three large themes: “The […]
Read More from UA Hosts 15th Annual Southeastern German Studies Conference
Get back, Paul McCartney: there’s a new band in town! On March 1, the Department of History held its first (but not last) Alumni Happy Hour. Alums from across generations took over the back patio at Loosa Brews to see old friends and make new ones—all while enjoying the fabulous music of the department’s new band, 603. Led by Dr. Jimmy Mixson on keyboard, and named after his legendary graduate reading seminar, 603 pulled together the musical talents of Dr. […]
Read More from 603 Entertains at First Tuscaloosa Alumni Happy Hour
The Summersell Center for the Study of the South’s (SCSS) spring semester has produced new research for its lynching research initiative, the Alabama Memory Project. Eighteen undergraduate researchers are working to document the lives of the thirty known victims of lynching in Elmore County, Alabama, attempting to reconstruct the entirety of the victims’ lives, not just their end. The course is co-taught by SCSS Director Dr. John Giggie and MA student Jana Venable, the current Vivian Malone Fellow and an […]
Read More from Summersell Center Partners with Elmore County Black History Museum
The Summersell Scholars Program is a leadership initiative that offers both undergraduate and graduate students the chance to develop new community history programs as well as work in existing ones, enabling them to lead ongoing programs and perform high-level historical research. Scholars share their experiences with each other through a weekly seminar class and the creation of structured reflections on their research. The Spring 2023 Summersell Scholars are Brooklyn Coleman, Molly Elliott, Gavin Jones, and Carson Silas. One current project […]
A new initiative spearheaded by Assistant Professor Lucy Kaufman allows undergraduates to earn credit for their research efforts with a professor in their field of interest. “Our students have huge amounts of curiosity and energy,” Dr. Kaufman said. “I think of [them] as historians” and we want to give them “the ability to make history their own; to train them in essential skills that it takes to be a researcher, not just in history, but also more broadly.” After putting […]
Read More from Program Offers Students Course Credit for Research
The Dr. Russell Bryant Endowed Scholarship Established in 2020 by a former student of Professor Bryant, this award is given annually to an outstanding first-generation undergraduate majoring in History. The 2023 recipient of this award: Bradley Fuller The Charles Grayson Summersell Awardfor Most Distinguished Undergraduate History Student Established in 1974, this award is given annually to the most distinguished undergraduate student or students majoring in History. The 2023 recipients of this award: Gavin Jones and Olivia Ricche The Charles Grayson […]
Read More from 2022-2023 Award-Winning Undergraduate Students & Honors Theses
Alumnus Fred Brugge, Class of 1981, recently visited the University’s campus for the first time in twenty years. Wandering around the halls of ten Hoor (nearly identical to when he had been a student), he wondered if the students today might sit in the exact chairs he did. They sure look the same, he thought. He wondered if his favorite professor might still teach classes and host dinners for his students. When Brugge attended the Capstone, the student population numbered […]
Read More from Fred Brugge, Class of ‘81, Remembers Dr. F. Russell Bryant
Stewart McLaurin, a 1981 graduate of The University of Alabama Department of History and current president of the White House Historical Association (WHHA), returned to campus on March 1st to speak to a packed audience as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute‘s lifelong learning lecture series. His lecture, titled “The White House Historical Association and Five Chapters of White House History,” traced the history of the United States’ Executive Mansion from President George Washington’s selection of the site in […]
Read More from Stewart McLaurin, Class of ‘81, Director of the White House Historical Association
MA student Jana Venable began working with the Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South as an undergraduate in January 2020, when she enrolled in Dr. John Giggie’s “The Long Civil Rights Movement” course. While a student in that course she began researching lynching and racial violence in her home community of Elmore County, Alabama. Over the last three years Jana has continued that research, working alongside Dr. Giggie and her student colleagues to create a partnership […]
Read More from MA Student Jana Venable Named Vivian Malone Fellow
On Friday, March 3, PhD student Kristina Mullinex participated in the annual statewide Alabama History Day, an opportunity for students from grades six through twelve to conduct year-long research and create exhibits on historical subjects. Kristina served as a judge for senior high school projects on the theme of “frontiers.” She was very impressed on multiple levels, including the participants’ creativity and the level of scholarship. The winning exhibit dealt with the frontier of women’s fashion in the 1960s, specifically […]
Read More from Kristina Mullinex Judges Alabama History Day Projects