Month / April 2021

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Honors Student Cameron Katz Discusses Experience as Undergraduate Fellow at the Fox Center

History major and honors student Cameron Katz recently published a piece on the blog of Emory’s Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry reflecting on her time as an undergraduate humanities fellow. Katz discusses her research, which centers on Florida’s felony disenfranchisement law, as well as how the pandemic has shaped her experience as a student and scholar. Read an excerpt from the post below, along with the full piece: “Shared Scholarship During the Pandemic.”

“The opportunity to present my research to a group of scholars was also very beneficial. My history honors thesis examines the racial implications of Florida’s felony disenfranchisement law – the rule which revokes a person’s right to vote on account of a felony conviction – which was on the books from 1838 to 2018. Because my temporal framework is so large, working to condense it to a short presentation for an audience less familiar with the history really helped me to streamline my main argument, which I think is one of the most challenging aspects of large projects. Hearing feedback about my presentation allowed me to narrow my presentation even further so that I could convey my work in an accessible and informative manner. Later this month, I will be presenting my research at the Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Symposium so the additional practice at the Fox Center has helped me to prepare.“

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Undergraduate Honors Students Present Thesis Proposals Throughout April

Throughout the month of April History majors at Emory are presenting their honors thesis proposals via Zoom. Their fifteen research projects range widely in period, place, and theme, from an analysis of African-American funeral directors in Jim Crow Georgia to a study of diplomatic relations between Russian cosmonauts and U.S. astronauts. Read about the student projects (including their faculty mentors) by clicking on the flyers below, and email Ms. Lakesia Hayes for the zoom link to the final round of presentations on Monday, April 26, from 2:40-4pm EDT.

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Montalvo Publishes Chapter in ‘Southern Scoundrels: Grifters and Graft in the Nineteenth Century’

Dr. Maria R. Montalvo, Assistant Professor of History, published a chapter in the recently-released edited collection Southern Scoundrels: Grifters and Graft in the Nineteenth Century (LSU Press, 2021). Montalvo’s chapter, “Bernard Kendig: Orchestrating Fraud in the Market and the Courtroom,” investigates the deceptive and violent business dealings of a New Orleans trader in enslaved people. Montalvo’s work centers on histories of slavery, capitalism, and the law in the nineteenth-century United States.

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Lesser to Present Opening Lecture at Federal University of Paraná

Dr. Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of History and Director of the Halle Institute for Global Reserch, will deliver the opening lecture for the history graduate program at the Federal University of Paraná. Lesser’s lecture, titled “Structural Health: Immigrants, the State and Urban Geography in São Paulo, 1870-2020,” draws from his research based in the Bom Retiro neighborhood of the city of São Paulo. The lecture will be livestreamed on YouTube on April 28 at 4pm EDT.

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Crespino Discusses the Future of the Filibuster on “Political Rewind”

Dr. Joseph Crespino, Jimmy Carter Professor and Department Chair, was recently a guest on the Georgia Public Broadcasting show “Political Rewind.” The episode focused on the role of the filibuster in creating deadlock in the U.S. Senate. Crespino was a panelist alongside former U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, Steven Dennis (Congressional Reporter, Bloomberg News), and Tamar Hallerman (Senior Reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Listen to the show at the following link: “Political Rewind: In Deadlocked Senate, Some Question If It Is Time To End The Filibuster.”

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Suh Moderates Panel “Asian American Studies Then and Now”

Assistant Professor Chris Suh recently moderated a conversation entitled “Changing with the Times: Asian American Studies Then and Now.” Sponsored by Emory’s Office for Racial and Cultural Engagement, the conversation brought together panelists Ellen Wu (Associate Professor of History, Indiana University Bloomington), Quan Tran (Lecturer in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration, Yale University), and Calvin Cheung-Miaw (PhD candidate in Modern Thought and Literature, Stanford University). The panelists discussed Asian American Studies both as a social movement and an academic field. Find more information below.

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Crespino to Moderate “Reflections and Resiliency: The Future of American Democracy in 2021”

Dr. Joseph Crespino, Jimmy Carter Professor and Department Chair, will moderate the upcoming event “Reflections and Resiliency: The Future of American Democracy in 2021.” The panelists will include Dr. Mary L. Dudziak, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law and Associated Faculty in the History Department, and Dr. Kali Gross, Professor of African American Studies. The event will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, from 6:00 PM to 6:45 PM. Read the full event description below and find more information here.

“The last six months in our nation have been tumultuous—from a highly contested election, an insurrection at the Capitol, to the inauguration of a new President. Faculty experts from Emory College of Arts and Sciences and Emory Law will contextualize these events and the path ahead that preserves democracy through the lenses of history, law, and policy—with a focus on resiliency.“

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Anderson Quoted in WABE Story on New Georgia Voting Law

Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently quoted in a story produced by Atlanta’s WABE. The story, “The Good, The Bad And The ‘Petty’ In Georgia’s New Voting Law,” discusses the effects of and debates about the state’s new voting legislation. Read an excerpt quoting Anderson below along with the full piece.

“It also bans counties from accepting private grant money used to open more polling sites and hire more workers to process absentee ballots. ‘When you’re counting 2,000 votes, that’s one thing, when you’re counting hundreds of thousands of votes, that’s another,’ said Emory University professor Carol Anderson.

“Anderson, who studies the history of voting rights, says a one-sized fits all approach to running elections is impractical and disproportionately affects voters in larger cities — often minority voters. Anderson says Georgia lawmakers from both parties should embrace the record voter turnout seen in the 2020 election cycle. ‘But instead of that, we get this cauldron of gloom and doom, and we get this horrible bill that becomes a law that is designed to basically take the power away from voters,’ she said.“

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Alison Collis Greene Discusses Post-COVID Future for Churches

Dr. Alison Collis Greene, Associate Professor in the Candler School of Theology and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently interviewed for a story by Atlanta’s WSB-TV news outlet. The piece focuses on the challenges that churches have faced in the midst of COVID-19 and discusses what the end of the pandemic might mean for them. Greene is the author, most recently, of No Depression in Heaven: The Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Transformation of Religion in the Delta (Oxford University Press, 2016). Watch the piece here.

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Emory History Graduate Programs Highly Ranked by U.S. News’ 2022 Guide

The U.S. News & World Report recently released its 2022 edition of their “America’s Best Graduate Schools” guide. Numerous programs in the Laney Graduate School were ranked highly, including the History graduate program, which sits at 26th on the “Best History Programs” general list. The African History and Latin American History programs ranked seventh and tenth, respectively, among top programs focused on those specific regions. Other ranked Laney programs include: African-American literature (4th), American politics (18th), British literature (16th), comparative politics (20th), English (26th), international politics (18th), political methodology (14th), and political science (19th). Read more about the ranking of programs throughout the Emory campus here: “Emory’s graduate, professional schools ranked among best by U.S. News.”