Category / Public Scholarship

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History Graduate Students Curate Exhibition “Changing Atlanta: 1950-1999: The Challenges of a Growing Southern Metropolis”

A new exhibition designed to explore the city of Atlanta’s rapid growth in the second half of the twentieth century is on view in the Robert W. Woodruff Library on the Emory campus through June. Titled “Changing Atlanta 1950-1999: The Challenges of a Growing Southern Metropolis,” the exhibit and corresponding events were co-curated  by Erica Bruchko, W. Michael Camp, and Louis Fagnan (along with Kristin Morgan and Laura Starratt of the Rose Library). The exhibition highlights the rich collections pertinent to Atlanta’s urban history housed at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library.

A panel discussion (free and open to the public) will take place on Tuesday, April 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the Jones Room in the Woodruff Library. The discussion will include opening remarks by Joseph Crespino, Chair and Jimmy Carter Professor, and closing remarks by Edward Hatfield, a History Department alumnus and instructor at Kennesaw State University. Read more about the event here.

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Professor Joseph Crespino on ‘Political Rewind’

Joseph Crespino, Jimmy Carter Professor of American and Southern History, recently appeared on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s show Political Rewind. Crespino draws historical parallels and offers context for other lively U.S. presidential races throughout the twentieth century. Listen to the broadcast,”Donald Trump, George Wallace and the Ghost of Contested Conventions Past,” here.

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Dr. Leslie M. Harris Offers Historical Insight at White House Screening of “Underground”

Dr. Leslie M. Harris, Associate Professor in the Department of History, recently lead off a panel discussion at the White House related the release of a new television drama titled “Underground.” The WGN America series tracks the story of the Underground Railroad and premiers this week. Harris’ scholarship, including her first book In the Shadow of Slavery, has helped to reshape prevailing conceptions the history of slavery in the United States, including its manifestation in the North and the importance of urban centers. Read the full story about Harris’ participation in the panel discussion here.

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Political Drama in Brazil: Jeffrey Lesser in ‘Time’ Magazine

Dr. Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of History, was recently quoted in Time magazine. Lesser offers commentary on the current Brazilian political crisis and citizens’ attitudes toward the government. An excerpt from the article, “The Dramatic Power Struggle Behind Impeachment in Brazil,” is below.

Cunha’s decision this week to approve impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, on the grounds that she improperly used state bank funds to cover a budget shortfall, is rooted in the pair’s bitter yet symbiotic fight for survival, one that could take them both down. “Brazilians are angry at Cunha as they think he broke the law to enrich himself,” says Jeffrey Lesser, a professor of Brazilian history at Emory University. “But they are angry at Dilma for allowing this to happen, even if she did not herself steal.”

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Carol Anderson on the Racial Past of the University of Missouri

Dr. Carol Anderson, Samuel Candler Dobbs professor and chair of African American Studies here at Emory, recently authored a piece in The Conversation titled “The long and troubled racial past of Mizzou.” Professor Anderson’s article draws on her experience as a professor at the University of Missouri (1996-2008), along with her research and teaching expertise on public policy and the ways that domestic and international policies intersect through the issues of race, justice and equality in the United States.

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Experimental Interdisciplinary Faculty Fellowship Supports Innovative Research Co-Led by Jeffrey Lesser

The Emory News Center recently published a profile of a research project co-led by Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor History. Lesser and research partner Uriel Kitron, Goodrich C. White Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences, are examining “how the dynamics of human migration, disease transmission and access to health care have impacted a vibrant immigrant neighborhood in São Paulo, Brazil — one of the world’s largest megalopolises.” Check out the full article here.

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Brett Gadsden at AJC Decatur Book Festival and in ‘The Christian Science Monitor’

Brett Gadsden, Associate Professor of African American Studies and History at Emory, recently joined best-selling novelist Greg Iles and Emory colleague Hank Klibanoff for a panel at the AJC Decatur Book Festival on cold cases from the Civil Rights era. Professor Gadsden teaches a course that involves undergraduates investigating cold cases in Georgia. The Christian Science Monitor published a feature on the panel and the work of the three panelists. The article can be found here.

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David Eltis and Allen Tullos Win NEH Digital Humanities Implementation Grant

Drs. David Eltis and Allen Tullos recently won a Digital Humanities Implementation Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The NEH program “is designed to fund the implementation of innovative digital-humanities projects that have successfully completed a start-up phase and demonstrated their value to the field. Such projects might enhance our understanding of central problems in the humanities, raise new questions in the humanities, or develop new digital applications and approaches for use in the humanities.” Drs. Eltis and Tullos applied for funds to enhance the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (also known as slavevoyages.org) by adding additional records about the intra-American movement of enslaved persons and to recode the underlying database to allow for long term sustainability.

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Erica Sterling (BA, ’15) Selected for John Lewis Fellowship

A recent graduate of Emory and former history major (doubled with Psychology), Erica Sterling recently was selected to receive the new John Lewis Fellowship. Read more about Erica and the fellowship here, or check out this brief description from the Emory News Center:

Three Emory students have been selected to receive the John Lewis Fellowship, a new human-rights focused educational program launched in partnership with the National Center for Civil and Human Rights (NCCHR) and Humanity in Action (HIA), Inc., an international educational organization.

Students and recent graduates from 119 universities applied for the new fellowship — named for civil rights icon U.S. Rep. John Lewis — which brings an inaugural class of 20 American and 10 European scholars to Atlanta this summer for a four-week program that explores the history and contemporary politics of diversity and minority rights in the United States.