RECENT NEWS

Human Rights Research Network Film Series: "Turning Point"

"Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror"
Tuesday, September 28, 2021, 6:30 p.m.
Zoom: Register at go.uncg.edu/turning-point
Moderator: Dr. Jeff Jones, Department of History

Wight Book Talk September 30

"Oil Money: Middle East Petrodollars and the Transformation of US Empire, 1967-1988"
Thursday, September 30, 2021, 5:30 p.m.
Zoom: Register at go.uncg.edu/oil-money

David M. Wight is a visiting assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In addition to Oil Money, he is the author of multiple articles and book chapters on the history of international relations, the United States, and the Middle East. He is currently conducting research for a new book analyzing the dramatic rise of higher education exchanges between the Arab world and the United States during the Cold War.

Historical Roots of our Time Lectures Kick Off in September

"The Plessy Doctrine and the Logic of Racism, Then and Now"
Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021, 12 - 1 pm
Virtual | Sign up at go.uncg.edu/historicalroots.

Join the Department of History for the return of their Historical Roots of Our Times series, which pairs a History faculty member with a colleague from across campus to discuss a pressing issue from a contemporary perspective. In this installment, History's Dr. Mark Elliott is joined by Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan, Department of Philosophy. Their talk will be followed by a Q&A. Students are encouraged to attend!

Jones Virtual Lecture Sept. 1

The Iranian Cultural Society of NC and the Graduate Student Association of Iranians at Duke present Duke University Emamian Lectureship Series: Dr. Jeff Jones will give a lecture on "The Graveyard of Empires? A Comparative View of the Soviet and American Wars in Afghanistan" on Zoom, Wednesday, Sept. 1 at 6:45 p.m. The lecture will be conducted in English and is free and open to the public. Co-sponsors: Dr. Ali and Parvin Jarrahi; Duke University Middle Eastern Studies Center; Duke Islamic Studies Center, UNCG Department of History; Persian Studies Program at UNC Chapel Hill; Duke University Libraries. https://duke.zoom.us/j/95925679038 Meeting ID: 959 2567 9038

The State Normal and Industrial College and the 19th Amendment

Congratulations to our colleagues Dr. Lisa Levenstein and Dr. Mandy Cooper for helping UNCG Libraries educate about the role of UNCG students in advocating for women's suffrage and getting the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed! Read more: The Women's Suffrage Movement at State Normal and Beyond.

Eger Publishes "Antioch: A History"

Congratulations to Associate Professor of Islamic History Dr. Asa Eger on the publication of his book Antioch: A History, co-written with Andrea U. de Giorgi, Routledge Press. From the publisher's website: "Antioch has typically been treated as a city whose classical glory faded permanently amid a series of natural disasters and foreign invasions in the sixth and seventh centuries CE. Such studies have obstructed the view of Antioch’s fascinating urban transformations from classical to medieval to modern city and the processes behind these transformations. Through its comprehensive blend of textual sources and new archaeological data reanalyzed from Princeton's 1930s excavations and recent discoveries, this book offers unprecedented insights into the complete history of Antioch, recreating the lives of the people who lived in it and focusing on the factors that affected them during the evolution of its remarkable cityscape."

Wight Publishes "Oil Money"

Congratulations to Visiting Assistant Professor Dr. David Wight on the publication of his new book Oil Money: Middle East Petrodollars and the Transformation of US Empire, 1967–1988 with Cornell University Press! Dr. Wight teaches courses for us in U.S. history and U.S. foreign relations.

Jashari Wins Dissertation Award

Congratulations to assistant professor Dr. Denisa Jashari who just found out that her dissertation written at Indiana University “Cartographies of Conflict: Political Culture and Urban Protest in Santiago, Chile, 1872-1994” has been selected as the winner of the University Distinguished Ph.D. Dissertation Award for 2020 in the Humanities category! This is the highest honor for research that Indiana University bestows upon its graduate students. The dissertation will also be IU’s nomination for a national competition, the 2021 Council of Graduate Schools/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award, in the Humanities category.

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."

Click for a larger view of the schedule.

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

Oct. 13, 2020: 6:00 p.m., online event on Zoom

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.

Sept. 24, 2020: 5:00–6:30 p.m.

Led by:
Jessica Agbemavor, UNCG Democracy Fellow
Mark Elliott, Department of History
Watson Jennison, Department of History

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.