Professor Alexis Dudden appeared on BBC World News to share insight into how the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago have affected politics in Japan and elsewhere, as well as wars since.
An Eoraip: Gaelic Ireland in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
Brendan Kane and Patrick Wadden, Editors
Medieval and early modern Irish scholars thought of themselves as Europeans. As an expression of territorial association, this belief reflects both their familiarity with the geographical traditions of Antiquity and the integration of their society into economic, cultural, and political networks that spanned the continent. But it was also an articulation of a perceived cultural affinity often denied in modern scholarship. The chapters in this volume examine the many and various ways that Gaelic Ireland was integrated into the broader, European world, focusing on literature and learning; real-world politics, economics, and travel; and questions of identity.
UConn History at Shear 2025
Over the weekend of July 17-20, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic held their annual conference in Providence, Rhode Island, where UConn history was well-represented. Manisha Sinha, Draper Chair in American History and outgoing president of SHEAR, moderated the president’s plenary panel and delivered the presidential address, while current faculty members Cornelia Dayton, Deirdre Cooper Owens, and Melanie Newport helped to lead several panels and workshops.
Current UConn History Graduate Students Alex Keuny, Timothy Brown, and Lincoln Hirn also presented their work, as part of panel discussions. UConn History alumni Kathryn Angelica, Nathan Braccio, Nicole Breault (who also served on the program committee), Allison Horrocks, Antwain Hunter, and Amy Sopcak-Joseph all presented, as well.
Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age
Sylvia R. Frey, Author, with foreword by Manisha Sinha
Princeton University Press, 2025
Abstract:
The American Revolution brought about violent and unpredictable social changes throughout the new nation, particularly in the South. Sylvia Frey reveals how slave resistance gave rise to a Black liberation movement that was central to the revolutionary struggle in the southern colonies, and how Black resistance persisted after the war as a struggle for cultural power that manifested itself in the establishment of separate Black churches with distinctive ritual patterns and moral values. She examines how white Southerners responded to Black resistance amid their own fight for independence from the British, and how they reacted to new movements by African Americans in the postwar period. With an incisive foreword by Manisha Sinha, Water from the Rock shows how the upheavals of war created opportunities for a quiet revolution that laid the foundations for the modern civil rights movement in America.
UConn History faculty, and grads attend annual SHAFR Conference
Congratulations to those presenting and representing the department at the 2025 Annual SHAFR Conference!
Frank Costigiola
Bradley Simpson
Grace Easterly
Gabrielle Westcott
Jenna Ulizio ’26 and Everett Padro ’26 presenting at int’l virtual conference 6/19
Jenna Ulizio ’26 and Everett Padro ’26 will present at the online seminar “Public history for contested and conflicting past(s)” on Thursday, June 19. The seminar is organized by the students of the Master in Digital and Public History (MADiPH) at the University of Luxembourg:
The past is subject to multiple historical interpretations. Perhaps more than ever, the current context offers many examples of contested – and sometimes conflicting – views and interpretations of the past. Beyond certain events and topics that appear very controversial, the overall production, mediation, and discussion of history are also at stake. The very existence, practices and discussion of evidence-based research are sometimes threatened. In this context, we may question what public history can bring to the discussion, what roles historians (still) have in the public interpretations of the past. How does public history deal with controversies, handle contested and conflicting topics?
Luke Reynolds to deliver Siborne Lecture on June 19th
Luke Reynolds has been invited to deliver the annual Siborne Lecture at the National Army Museum in London on June 19th. This lecture is part of the National Army Museum’s Waterloo Week (16 – 22 June) held to mark the 210th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
Manisha Sinha Featured in the New York Times
Prof. Manisha Sinha was quoted in a May 25 New York Times piece, looking back at the murder of George Floyd and the 2020 movement for Black lives. Prof. Sinha is quoted alongside Ibram X. Kendi and Steven Hahn, among others, and seeks to place the events of 2020, as well as the subsequent reactionary backlash, within its long-term historical context.
Access the piece here.
Fiona Vernal work supporting oral history in CT featured in UConn Today article
In collaboration with Connecticut Humanities and the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, Fiona Vernal has made an online platform TheirStory accessible to CT organizations and residents to support the creation of oral history collections. Vernal began working with TheirStory creator Zack Ellis in 2022 working on a project on West Indian, African American, and Puerto Rican migrations to Hartford. The article also details the other CT organization and communities that have benefitted from this collaboration.
Helen Rozwadowski Interviewed for Blue History Network Podcast
Professor Helen Rozwadowski was interviewed for the Blue History Network Podcast, which is now up on Spotify and the network’s website. In this podcast, Professor Rozwadowski delves into “a wide variety of subjects, from oceanography in the Nineteenth century to how we, in the present, bring ocean history to the attention of the public“. She also discusses her books, Fathoming the Ocean and Vast Expanses.