Professor Manisha Sinha contributed a new article, titled “The New Fugitive Slave Laws,” to The New York Review of Books. Drawing eye-opening parallels between the humanitarian assistance towards today’s crises, such as migrants arriving in Italy and Dreamers in the US, Today, and the assistance provided to slaves during the antebellum era, Sinha provides a timely argument that states “in criminalizing the provision of humanitarian assistance to migrants we have resurrected the fugitive slave laws of antebellum America.”
Professor McElya Contributes to Boston Review
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, and in relation to the Democratic contest for presidential candidacy, Professor Micki McElya provides her assessment of whether democratic candidate and South End Mayor, Pete Buttigieg, is the inheritor of Stonewall’s legacy. Published in the Boston Review and titled “Is Pete Buttigieg the Face of Stonewall?,” McElya argues that “Buttigeig’s Stonewall is not that of the fed-up liberationists in the bar and on Christopher Street, but rather of Mattachine leaders’ sanguine next-day appeal to ‘rioters’ to be peaceful and decorous.”
To read more of McElya’s comparison, click here.
UConn Today Highlights Veterans History Project
On May 23, 2019, UConn Today highlighted the important work being done by UConn’s Veterans History Project in an article titled “Preserving Veteran Stores for Future Generations.” Serving as an extension of the Library of Congress’ national initiative, UConn students are assisting in the collection, preservation, and dissemination of U.S. veterans’ personal accounts.
As discussed in the article, the project utilizes a multitude of UConn resources. In addition to being initiated by Veterans Affairs and Military Programs director Alyssa Kelleher ’04 (CLAS), ’17 MS, the project also engages with undergraduate students and professors, such as Fiona Vernal who is an Associate Professor of History and African Studies.
Prof. Kane Recovers Meaning of Text through Early Modern Irish
Professor Brendan Kane, specializing in early modern Britain and Ireland, details the recent recovery of an Irish source on The National Archives’ blog. Along with UConn Greenhouse Studios’ Wes Hamrick and Deirdre Nic Chárthaigh, Professor Kane translated the text of an early seventeenth-century land dispute from the Irish midlands. The text was shared via twitter by the The National Archives’ archivists and came to the attention of Professor Kane and the Greenhouse Studios due to their in-depth involvement with Léamh.org.
To read more about the discovery process as well as the analysis of the document, follow this link.
Matthew Guariglia, UConn PhD, contributes to Made By History
Matthew Guariglia, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in May 2019, contributed another great article to The Washington Post‘s Made By History column. His article, titled “What the loss of the New York police museum means for criminal justice reform,” underscores the importance of NYPD historical records for both obtaining insights into the police force as well as highlighting silences. In particular, Guargilia emphasizes the utilization of the documents for exposing “the deep intellectual, scientific and legal justifications for criminalizing black and brown populations.”
Professor Peter Zarrow Contributes to History News Network
Professor Peter Zarrow, who specializes in Modern China, contributed an article to the George Washington University’s History News Network titled “How Chinese History Restarted 100 Years Ago.” Centered on the May Fourth movement, Zarrow argues that the movement inspired political action, particularly among the youth, and “revived Chinese politics, which had been left moribund in the wake of the 1911 Revolution.” To read the article, and learn of how “the Tiananmen Square democracy movement” is remembered today, please click here.
The Department also would like to note that Professor Zarrow is serving as a Visiting Professor at L’École des hautes études en sciences sociales (School for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences) from May-June 2019.
Professor Sinha Receives 2019-2020 Radcliffe Institute Fellowship
This past week it was announced that Manisha Sinha, the UConn History Department’s James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History, is a recipient of a 2019-2020 fellowship from Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
With an acceptance rate of 3.7 percent and an applicant pool of more than 1,000 distinguished academics, it is a well-earned honor for Professor Sinha to serve as one of the fellows. Specifically, her research on “the limits and possibilities of progressive constitutionalism through study of gender and race issues that arose during Reconstruction” will contribute to the Institute’s 19th Amendment Project associated with Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.
For more information, please see the Institute’s fellowship announcement listed here.
Hilary Bogert-Winkler Accepts Position of Director at Montreal Dio
The Department is extremely pleased to announce that Dr. Hilary Bogert-Winkler has accepted the position of Director of Pastoral Studies at Montreal Diocesan Theological College, an Anglican institution affiliated with McGill University.
Bogert-Winkler recently defended her dissertation, titled “Prayerful Protest and Clandestine Conformity: Alternative Liturgies and the Book of Common Prayer in Interregnum England,” in April 2019. In addition to studying liturgy and church history at UConn, Rev. Bogert-Winkler also has served in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Bogert-Winkler is “thrilled” to be joining Dio and states that “In learning more about the college, I have been so impressed with the creativity, excitement, and passion for the Gospel I see. The church is being challenged to find new ways to train all its members to be ministers of the Gospel, and I look forward to joining in that work in Montreal.”
Congratulations, Hilary!
PhD Student Kathryn Angelica Wins Munson Scholarship
The Department is pleased to share that first year doctoral student Kathryn Angelica received a fellowship from the Frank C. Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies at Mystic Seaport to take classes and conduct research this summer. The courses, of which Angelica will choose two, include: “America Goes to Sea,” Maritime History Survey Course, “American Maritime History Seminar,” or an independent research course using materials from the G. W. Blunt White Library. The Cora Mallory Munson Scholarship covers tuition and room/board for the summer.
PhD Nicole Breault Receives AHA Research Grant
The Department is very pleased to share that Nicole Breault, a third year PhD student, has won a 2019 American Historical Associaton (AHA) Littleton-Griswold Research Grant. The grant supports research in US legal history and in the broader field of law and society. Nicole will be utilizing the funds to further her dissertation project, “The Night Watch of Early Boston: Law and Governance in Eighteenth-Century British America.”
For more information, please click here.