RECENT NEWS

History Department Launches YouTube Channel

We now have a YouTube page! We will be posting videotaped forums involving our faculty and students, virtual commencement exercises, and other material. Visit it here and be sure to subscribe! The link can be found on the right side under our Facebook page section.

Gatson and Parsons Receive P2 Grant

Congratulations to Drs. Torren Gatson and Anne Parsons for receiving a UNCG P2 grant with the NC African American Heritage Commission and NC Central University. The team received 3 years of funding for their project, "Crafting a Community Engaged Approach: Creating Pathways for African Americans in Public History."

The Historical Roots of Our Time Series: "The Injustices of Rape, a Conversation"
Friday, April 15, 2021, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Zoom: https://go.uncg.edu/historicalroots

With Cat Jacquet and Anne Parsons (UNCG, History, moderator)

Join the conversation Friday, April 15th 4-5 pm as part of History and HNAC's new series - "The Historical Roots of Our Time." No pre-registration needed, just use the Zoom link at noon Friday! https://go.uncg.edu/historicalroots

Click for a larger view of the schedule.

Parker Wins College Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

Congratulations to Ph.D. student Jewel Parker for being selected as the 2020-2021 winner of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for the College of Arts and Sciences! Way to go Jewel!

Parsons Wins Outstanding Book Award

Congratulations to Dr. Anne Parsons for co-winning the "2019 Outstanding Book Award" from the Disability History Association for her book "From Asylum to Prison: Deinstitutionalization and the Rise of Mass Incarceration after 1945" (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2018).

"Praise from the committee: 'Lucidly written, Parsons’ powerful account places disability at the center of the burgeoning histories of mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex. From Asylum to Prison is especially compelling and insightful in the way it brings together race, prisons, the disability rights movement, and the related yet distinct deinstitutionalizations of people diagnosed with psychiatric disabilities and those labeled as having intellectual or developmental disabilities. Always attentive to historical complexities and the unintended consequences of policymaking, Parsons shows how we cannot fully understand the rise of mass incarceration without incorporating disability.'"

2020 Department Newsletter Historian Now Online

Download it in PDF format here: his.uncg.edu/news/newsletters.html.

Tolbert Featured on The State of Things

Associate Professor Lisa Tolbert, whose forthcoming book is titled "Beyond Piggly Wiggly: A Cultural History of the Self-Service Store," was a guest on WUNC's The State of Things in an episode about North Carolina groceries. Listen and read here.

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.