RECENT NEWS

Election 2020 Analysis

"As ballots continue to be counted in several battleground states, including North Carolina, UNC Greensboro professors Dr. Andrew Engelhardt (Political Science) and Dr. Lisa Levenstein (History and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) share their election reactions and analysis." Read more.

Parsons Curates Traveling Exhibition

Dr. Anne Parsons curated a traveling exhibition Care and Custody: Past Responses to Mental Health with the NIH's National Library of Medicine. Learn more about it and how to bring it to your institution!

Human Rights Network Film Series: Slay the Dragon
Thursday, October 29, 2020, 6:30 p.m.
Zoom: go.uncg.edu/slay-the-dragon

This documentary on gerrymandering and its impact follows the successful efforts of grassroots organizers against gerrymandering in several states, and highlights its importance in North Carolina. The post-film discussion will be moderated by Dr. Michael Broache, Department of Political Science.

Magnolia House Exhibit Opening
Oct. 24, 2020: 1-3 p.m.
Zoom, open to the public
Presented by the UNCG Museum Studies Class of 2021

Learn about the home's historic significance to the Civil Rights Movement, its role in Greensboro, and the importance of preserving African American houses, from the home's resident curator and Preservation Greensboro's Benjamin Briggs, with a Q&A session to follow.

Included will be a six minute video guide through the exhibit.

https://tinyurl.com/MagnoliaOpening

The UNCG second-year Museum Studies students will be hosting a panel discussion with three guest speakers on October 13, 2020, beginning at 6 pm, via Zoom. This virtual panel will include topics on the twentieth-century experience of African American residents and visitors to Greensboro. In anticipation of unveiling the exhibit at the Magnolia House, the second-year students are hosting this panel to generate interest for the upcoming exhibit and discuss the African American experiences and communities of Greensboro’s past and present.

The panelists will discuss how the African American Motorist Green Book fits Greensboro's overall Civil Rights Movement and beyond. Also, the importance of why we must work to preserve and document Green Book sites. Following the discussion, a virtual Q&A session will take place.

Join the conversation with our three panelists: Dr. Torren Gatson, Assistant Professor of Public History, Dr. Virginia L. Summey, Historian and Faculty Fellow for Lloyd International Honors College at UNC Greensboro, and Lisa R. Withers, Doctoral Student in Public History at North Carolina State University. Ms. Withers' extensive work includes project research historian for NC African American Heritage Commission and co-curator for the Oasis Spaces, an exhibit highlighting over 300 NC businesses listed in the Green Book.

"Although the Green Book has become more well-known over the past few years, most people in our community do not know what it was or how critical it was for black middle-class movement. We are so excited to have so many distinguished scholars speak to this piece of black history in Greensboro, and we hope the community will join us," says Melissa Knapp, Historic Site Manager and Curator at the Magnolia House. This panel will help draw attention to the new exhibit to open at the Magnolia House, via Zoom, on October 24, 2020.

For more information or if you have any questions, visit www.thehistoricmagnoliahouse.com, or contact Dr. Torren Gatson at tlgatson@uncg.edu. RSVP at info@magnoliahousegso.org, or by phone: (336) 617-3382.

This Webinar will discuss the logistics of voting in the 2020 election for UNCG students and address how to overcome potential obstacles to the exercise of your right to vote. Techniques of voter suppression will be addressed and placed in a larger historical context. Students are encouraged to bring questions and concerns so they can actively participate in an informative discussion.

Co-Sponsored by: the Human Rights Research Network, the Humanities Network and Consortium, the Office of Civic Engagement, the History Department, the Political Science Department and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Online Event Sept. 9, 2020: 4:30–6:00 p.m.

Dr. Lisa Tetrault, Carnegie Mellon University, author of "The Myth of Seneca Falls" will present this Zoom lecture followed by a Q & A session. When women won passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, they did not win the right to vote, despite repeated claims that they did.Just what, then, did the woman suffrage amendment do? Clarifying this history, this talk also positions 1920 as the middle of a much larger story about the pursuit of voting rights, a struggle that remains unfinished and ongoing.

Cooper Discusses Women's Rights and Suffrage

History Instructor Dr. Mandy Cooper answers the questions, "How far have women's rights come since [the passage of the 19th Amendment]? How has the activism of the suffragists inspired the activism we see today? in this interview with UNCG News.

Sanghvi, Ali Publish Article

Purvi Sanghvi, M.A. 2020, and Dr. Omar Ali co-authored "The Indian Ocean World in Five Lives," published August 12 as the cover story on Live History India.

Book Discussion: Dr. Chuck Bolton’s "William F. Winter and the New Mississippi"

The Museum of Mississippi History will host a discussion of Dr. Chuck Bolton's book, "William F. Winter and the New Mississippi," on Friday, August 28 at noon on their Facebook page. Bolton is a historian and associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. William F. Winter served as the 58th governor of Mississippi and is remembered for the passage of the Mississippi Education Reform Act. Bolton’s biography covers Winter's humble beginnings in Grenada and his storied political career. The Facebook Live link is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/681987675719236/?active_tab=about

WFDD Interviews Elliott about History of Protest

Dr. Mark Elliott was interviewed on public radio station WFDD about "America's History and Where BLM Fits" on July 30. Listen and read the highlights of the interview.

Levenstein Publishes Book, Contributes to National News

Dr. Lisa Levenstein's new book, They Didn't See Us Coming: The Hidden History of Feminism in the Nineties was named a New York Times "New and Noteworthy" book. Levenstein has been busy this summer writing columns and appearing on national news, including The Washington Post, ABC News, Ms. Magazine, and NPR's "The State of Things." Dr. Levenstein is director of women's, gender and sexuality studies and associate professor of history at UNCG.

Milteer Publishes Book, Talks on Smithsonian Museum Website July 25

Congratulations to Dr. Warren Milteer on the publication of his latest book North Carolina's Free People of Color 1715-1885 by LSU Press this month. He will present a virtual book talk on the Smithsonian Institution's African American History and Culture Museum website on July 25, 2020, 12:00-1:30 p.m.. "This study offers a nuanced look into of the lives of free communities of color who despite living under racial and legal constraints raised families, built communities and created distinct cultures in the Upper South."

Department Welcomes Teresa Walch

Dr. Teresa Walch joins UNCG History Department this fall as assistant professor of modern European history. Dr. Walch is a specialist in modern Germany with research and teaching interests in social and cultural history, urban history and urbanism, human geography, Holocaust studies, and world and transnational history. This semester she will teach European Revolutions 1789-1989 and Historiography.

Department Welcomes Denisa Jashari

Dr. Denisa Jashari joins UNCG History Department this spring as assistant professor of Latin American history. Dr. Jashari completed her dissertation, “Cartographies of Conflict: Political Culture and Urban Protest in Chilean Shantytowns, 1872-1994,” at the University of Indiana and this fall is a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Class of 2019-2020 Graduation and Recognition Ceremony

Congratulations to the UNCG History Graduates and Award Winners of 2020! Special thanks to history major Azariah Journey for putting together our online ceremony. In this combination video and slide show, you'll see addresses from department head Dr. Greg O'Brien, director of graduate studies Dr. Richard Barton, director of undergraduate studies Dr. Jeff Jones, a presentation from honors and social studies licensure liaison Dr. Lisa Tolbert, and many photos of our newly graduated historians. We are proud of all of you! For lists of award winners, click here for undergraduate and here for graduate.

Parsons Writes about Greensboro Polio Epidemic

Associate Professor and Director of Public History Dr. Anne Parsons wrote a timely editorial in the News and Record: This city has united before to confront a deadly virus.

Azariah Journey Wins Scholarship

Congratulations to History major Azariah Journey for winning the Sally & Alan Cone scholarship from the UNCG Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program! Azariah is also an officer in the UNCG History Club.

Mize Wins Teaching Award

Congratulations to Dr. Jamie Mize (UNCG Department of History PhD, 2017) for receiving the Outstanding Teaching Award for the 2019-2020 academic year at UNC-Pembroke, where she is an assistant professor of History!

"The End of WWII and the Controversy Surrounding the A-Bomb"
Phil Koch
UNCG History Club
Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, 1-2 p.m.
SOEB 219

A presentation and discussion led by UNCG's oldest graduate and history major, Phil Koch. Refreshments will be provided at the event. Interested? RSVP: uncghistoricalsociety@gmail.com.

"Russian Politics in the Late Putin Era: Challenges & the Prospects for Change"
Dr. Timothy Colton
Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
Weatherspoon Museum Auditorium

The Center for Legislative Studies begins its 2020 Spring Lecture Series with the following event: Dr. Timothy Colton, Morris and Anna Feldberg Professor of Government and Russian Studies at Harvard University will be presenting "Russian Politics in the Late Putin Era: Challenges & the Prospects for Change" on Thursday, February 6th at 7:30 p.m in the Weatherspoon Auditorium.

Sponsored by International Global Studies; the Lloyd International Honors College; and the Departments of Political Science; Geography, Environment, and Sustainability; History; Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; and Sociology. For disability accommodations, please contact Forrest White at fewhite@uncg.edu.

Film Screening: "The Innocents"

The spring Human Rights Research Network film series begins with a showing of The Innocents on Thursday, January 30, at 6:30pm in Room 120 of the School of Education Building. Dr. Jeff Jones will be moderating the film and discussion that evening. There will be a reception following the film.

The Innocents is a 2016 French Sundance Film Festive Award winning production that depicts the aftermath of the brutal rape of several nuns in a Polish convent by Russian soldiers in 1945. These rapes result in pregnancies for several of the sisters. The plot follows the efforts of a French doctor to assist the women in the convent. The film raises serious questions about the violation of human rights, not only among perpetrators of such crimes, but also among humans in good societies and in tragic circumstances such as those depicted in this much-awarded film.

Community Scanning Day

2019 Edition of The Historian Now Online

Check out what our faculty, students, and alumni have been doing during the past year in our annual newsletter: http://his.uncg.edu/documents/newsletter/Newsletter-2019.pdf

Invited Scholar Lecture: "The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba: Architecture, Memory, and the Future"
Thursday, October 24th, 6-7 PM, Faculty Center
Dr. Michele Lamprakos, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Univ. of Maryland

Most scholars know the Great Mosque of Cordoba as one of the great monuments of Islamic civilization. But for almost eight centuries, it has been the city's cathedral. Unlike other mosques on the Iberian peninsula, which were demolished and replaced by cathedrals and churches at some point after the Christian conquest, the Great Mosque of Cordoba survived. It was progressively adapted for Catholic worship with relatively minor changes. Then, in the 16th century, a strange thing happened: a massive choir and presbytery began to rise from the middle of the building. Over the course of the next two centuries, the surrounding fabric was progressively "christianized" — only to be "re-islamicized" in the 19th-20th centuries, in the era of Romanticism, Liberalism, and colonialism. Paradoxically, re-islamicization reached its highpoint under Franco's ultra-Catholic dictatorship (1939-1975). It might be expected that, with transition to democracy and freedom of religion, there would be greater openness to the Islamic past in Cordoba. But in fact, the opposite occurred: the last two decades have seen a new wave of christianization, as Church authorities have sought to downplay, discredit, and even deny the Islamic past. The long struggle over the building's fabric and meaning attests to the continuing power of the Islamic architectural legacy. But it is also a barometer of changing attitudes toward the Islamic past - and the meaning of that past for Spanish culture and society.

Michele Lamprakos is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, University of Maryland-College Park. Trained as an architect and architectural historian, she specializes in the early modern/modern Arab-Islamic world and critical heritage studies. Her research focuses on two main themes: the lives and layers of buildings and sites; and contacts between faith-cultures in the Mediterranean. She is author of Building a World Heritage City: Sanaa Yemen, the first book on urban heritage to be recognized by the Society of Architectural Historians' Spiro Kostof Award (Honorable Mention, 2018). She lectures widely and has organized international symposia, including "Heritage and the Arab Spring" (Freer Gallery of Art, 2014, with Nancy Um) which explored the role of cultural heritage in a new and shifting Middle East. She has served as Technical Reviewer for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and as Desk Reviewer for UNESCO. Dr. Lamprakos' lecture draws on her second book project, Memento Mauri: the Afterlife of the Great Mosque of Cordoba, which she is advancing as a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (2019-2020).

Co-sponsored by the Department of History, the Honors College, the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Civilizations, the Islamic Studies Research Network, and HNAC.

Empires Across Space and Time
Monday, Oct. 28, 5:00
SOEB 118

The North Carolina Humanities Corridor presents "Empires Across Space and Time." Join faculty and students from UNCG and NCCU for an interdisciplinary discussion on varied examples of imperial power, from the prehistoric Wari Empire to the Roman Empire to the British Empire.

What is an empire? Who built and maintained the empires of the past? How and why did they do so? What are the differences between migrants, settlers, colonizers, and imperialists?

Associate Professor of History Jill Bender will be one of the discussants.