Author: Bobadilla, Rachel

NCPH and NPS “WWII and the Home Front” webinar to include UConn’s Clarissa Ceglio on January 23rd

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The online webinar series presented by the National Council on Public History and National Park Service is called “World War II and the Home Front” and will start January 22nd and end January 30th. Professor Ceglio is an Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at UConn and will present a talk that will include tips for those who want to delve into their local museum or historical society’s war history. She will trace how the notion of museums as “social instruments” led to experimentation in the 1930s and how once WWII began, progressive museum practitioners found that the line between purposive education and propaganda was not as clear or as easy to walk as they had thought. Her talk will be January 23rd, 2:00 pm EST, entitled “A Cultural Arsenal for Democracy: The World War II Work of US Museums.”

grey flyer with red lettering saying World War II and the Home Front

Registration is free, and can be found along with details about the other three presentations here:

WWII and the Home Front- National Council on Public History

 

The First Right: Self-Determination and the Transformation of International Order, 1941-2000

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Bradley Simpson, Author

Oxford University Press, 2025Blue and red painting with The First Right written in blue above and Bradley Simpson written in white below.

In The First Right, Brad Simpson narrates the global history of the idea of self-determination in international politics from the 1940s through the end of the twentieth century. He argues that there was no one version of self-determination, but a century-long contest between contending visions of sovereignty and rights. He shows that self-determination’s meaning has often emerged from the claims of movements and peoples on the margins of international society.  Over the course of the 20th Century Pacific Island territories, Indigenous peoples, regional and secessionist movements, and transnational solidarity groups, among others, offered expansive visions of economic, political, and cultural sovereignty ranging far beyond the movement for decolonization with which they are often associated. As they did so, these movements and groups helped to vernacularize self-determination as a language of social justice and rights for people around the world.

Manisha Sinha interviewed on ABC news segment on coming changes to free-fee days at National Parks

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Professor Sinha appeared to discuss the departure from precedent that free-fee days being cancelled for MLK Jr.’s birthday and Juneteenth represent in light of a new day added on Flag Day, which is not a federal holiday but is current President Trump’s birthday.

Full segment here: Juneteenth and MLK Day removed as free-fee days at national parks – ABC News

Professor Alexis Dudden Article on Taiwan Tensions and “History Wars” between China and Japan Published in China Daily

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Professor Dudden’s article titled “When Japan’s history becomes a security threat” explains the history invoked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s statement about Taiwan in November, and the intentions behind making statements that could and did flare political discussion in the region. 

Full article here: When Japan’s history becomes a security threat – Opinion – Chinadaily.com.cn

Draper Chair of American History Manisha Sinha featured in UConn Today article about launch of Chinese translation of ‘The Slave’s Cause’

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The article begins with a summary of Professor Sinha’s embarking on a book and lecture tour in China to engage new readers with the material, and goes on to a Q and A about what the book means to both American and international scholars. The book has been widely read internationally, and the discussion explains how studying the past and uncovering the full picture of the abolition movement offers a perpetually relevant opportunity for examination of how people’s lives and choices have led to political change both in the US and internationally.

 

Full article here: Manisha Sinha Brings Global Perspectives on Abolition to China – UConn Today

Professor Fiona Vernal’s Oral History Exhibition “Bloomfield Mosaic: Stories from our Jewish, African American, and West Indian Communities” Opens at Alvin and Beatrice Wood Human Services Center

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Fiona Vernal, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies and Associate Director of the Africana Studies Institute, and graduate student Tim Brown, with the help of community volunteers recorded oral histories and digitized photos that were used to curate the exhibit. The work for the exhibit began in 2023, and builds upon Professor Vernal’s local history work in CT towns including Hartford, Windsor, and Enfield. UConn Today has written an in-depth article on the project and what it means to the communities whose stories are being told.

Full article here

Nick Hurley (BA ’13, MA ’15) reflects on teaching at West Point in Contingent Magazine

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US Army National Guard officer and UConn graduate Nick Hurley (BA ’13, MA ’15) has published a wonderful essay “What’s the Point?” on his year teaching History to cadets at West Point. The article was published in Contingent Magazine which was co-founded by several UConn grads. Read the piece here: https://contingentmagazine.org/2025/11/11/whats-the-point/

Jonathan Michaels on Socialism, Labor, and Reform in NYC

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Jonathan Michaels, one-time chef and longtime lecturer at UConn Hartford, has written one cookbook and two excellent historical studies of McCarthyism. His new book project is on leftist politics and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, under contract with Routledge. This week, with the election of a democratic socialist as mayor of New York, he returns to the vibrant world of immigrants, leftists, and union struggles in early 20th century New York for a piece in Jacobin about Morris Hillquit, “The Socialist Who Helped Bring Marx to America.”