LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 19, 2025) — Nestled in the rolling hills of central Kentucky, Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill stands as a testament to a once-thriving utopian community.
With its impeccably preserved 19th-century buildings, rich cultural history and dedication to education, it functions as a dynamic learning environment for both students and historians.
This past semester, a group of University of Kentucky history graduate students embarked on an innovative practicum
By Jennifer T. Allen
Step-Up Program fellowsLEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 24, 2025) — Plamedi Nsensele feels called to help others navigating their new life in the United States.
“As an international student at the University of Kentucky, I see it as a blessing to pursue my education without the fear of needing help,” said Nsensele, a neuroscience and biology major from The Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Now, through the Step-Up Program, I’ve had the opportunity to work with immigrants from the same country as me, but with different circumstances.”
Step-Up is an innovative service-learning program supporting high school students from immigrant and refugee families. The program helps them integrate into the United States. The program was recently awarded a Provost Impact Award for the 2024-25 academic year.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 8, 2024) — On Nov. 9, community members are invited to gather at the Lyric Theater & Cultural Arts Center in Lexington for a powerful exploration of Kentucky’s history of racial violence.
The symposium, “Reckoning, Remembering, Restoring: A Symposium on the History of Racial Violence in Kentucky” aims to “confront the often-overlooked history of racial violence across the state and explore the role of digital humanities in telling this essential story.”
The symposium, which runs 9 a.m.-4 p.m., is free and open to the public, though
By Richard LeComte
Joe ClarkLEXINGTON, Ky. -- Joseph Clark, associate professor of history in the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, has started a fellowship with the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.
Each fellow will work on an individual research project and can share ideas in seminars, lectures and conferences. As one of 31 fellows, Clark will work on the book project “Witchcraft and Contraband in the Early Modern Caribbean.”
“During my time at the NHC I’ll be drafting my chapters and taking my work to seminars and workshops,” Clark said, “At the same time, I’ll be processing the archival research I’ve already completed in Spain and Mexico and figuring out what additional research I will need to undertake to complete the book.”
Clark’s area of expertise lies
One of public television’s most popular series, "Secrets of the Dead," brings its historical analysis to Kentucky.
The series, which uses the latest science to challenge prevailing ideas and share fresh perspectives on historical events, investigates an incident from Kentucky history known as the “Simpsonville Massacre,” when 22 Civil War soldiers from the 5th US Colored Cavalry on a cattle drive to Louisville were ambushed and slain by outlaws.
The episode “The Civil War’s Lost Massacre,” which was co-produced by KET, revisits the events of January 25, 1865, tracing the stories of several of the Kentucky soldiers and their families with help from guest historians, two of whom hail from Kentucky: Jerry Miller, a former state legislator from Louisville,
By Joe Bandy
The 2024-25 Alumni Ambassadors. Photo by Joe Bandy.LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 27, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Alumni Association announced the selection of 32 students who will serve as Alumni Ambassadors for the 2024-25 academic year. As official student hosts of the UK, Alumni Ambassadors promote the university at numerous events in partnership between the Office of the President, Office of Philanthropy and the UK Alumni Association.
Alumni Ambassadors represent the best and brightest of UK students, demonstrating high achievement in their collegiate careers and a dedication to the advancement of the university. Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher and represent diverse backgrounds, cultures and areas of campus involvement.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 24, 2024) — The University of Kentucky International Center, UK College of Arts and Sciences, UK College of Fine Arts and UK Residence Life will hold a two-day celebration of UK’s international community on Sept. 26-27.
“Global UK: A Celebration of Our Campus Mosaic” will feature a student panel and special film screening and will culminate in an international festival at Alumni Commons.
“This event will be a fantastic celebration of our incredible international community here at UK,” said Francis Musoni, associate professor of history and director of international studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. “There are more than 100 countries represented
By Richard LeComte
Amy Murrell TaylorLEXINGTON, Ky. -- Amy Murrell Taylor, the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of history in the University of Kentucky's College of Arts and Sciences, is chairing the panel selecting the 26th Frederick Douglass Book Prize. Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition gives the prize, which recognizes a book addressing the history of slavery, resistance and abolition.
Taylor’s book “Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War's Slave Refugee Camps” received the prize in 2019.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the Gilder Lehrman Center established the Frederick Douglass Book Prize in 1999 to stimulate scholarship in the field. The
The University of Kentucky has announced recipients of the 2024 Faculty Awards. The College will have an awards program and reception in early fall to recognize the recipients. More information will follow soon.
2024 College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Awards recipients are:
Outstanding Teaching Award
Humanities Joseph Clark – Department of History.. Yanira Paz – Career Award – Department of Hispanic Studies Behavioral and Social Sciences Pooja Sidney – Department of Psychology. Lecturers Emily Croteau – Department of Biology. Chloe Wawrzyniak – Department of Mathematics.Excellence in Teaching Large Courses Award
Kyle Golenbiewski – Department of Mathematics.Innovative Teaching Award
Abigail Firey – Department of History. Jennifer Hunt – Department of Gender and Women’s Studies.Outstanding Undergraduate
The March 29 edition of the National Public Radio podcast "It's Been a Minute" features an interview with University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences history professor Anastasia Curwood on her biography of U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm. The podcast examines the history left out of the new Netflix film "Shirley," which follows the presidential run of Chisholm. Curwood is the author of "Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics." Curwood talks about how Chisholm's identities informed her approach to the campaign.
By Janice W. Fernheimer, Karen Petrone and Jeff Polson
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 22, 2024) — The following op-ed was written by Janice W. Fernheimer, Karen Petrone and Jeff Polson. The opinions expressed are their own, not those of the University of Kentucky.
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A workshop with UK College of Education pre-service teachers in the Master's with Initial Certification program and pre-service teachers in the Middle Level Education Program who are focusing on social studies content. Photo by Kathy Swan.Antisemitism has been on the rise in Kentucky and across the U.S. since 2016, including a 36% increase nationally
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 19, 2024) — Today we honor U.S. presidents, past and present.
From those who served as war heroes to those who resigned in disgrace, behind every textbook page is a real person who did all sorts of fascinating — and sometimes odd — things on the way to becoming leader of the free world.
We’re going to unpack a treasure trove of those interesting facts soon.
But first, some tidbits about the holiday itself.
Did you know, Presidents’ Day started out as a day of remembrance for only one president, George Washington?
Following Washington’s death in 1799, Americans began honoring his birthday, Feb. 22. At first, the celebration was not federally observed, but it
George Wright, a UK alum and senior adviser to UK President Capilouto, reflects on Lyman T. Johnson's 1949 court victory, and the impact it's had on his personal UK experience, as well as on the cultural life of the university. Pete Comparoni | UK Photo
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 15, 2024) — This year marks the 75th anniversary of Lyman T. Johnson’s historic legal triumph against the University of Kentucky, a milestone that marked him as the first Black student to integrate the university.
A lifelong champion of education and its transformative potential, Johnson was an advocate for equality in both education and broader society, drawing inspiration from his experiences as
By Jennifer T. Allen
Tantalissia Champs, an Arts and Sciences African American and Africana Studies senior, and Shea Brown, special projects deputy and supervising director of DAP at the Fayette County Clerk's office, look at documents as part of the Digital Access Project.LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 8, 2024) - When Tantalissia Champs and James Lin registered for a slavery and records practicum taught by Kathryn Newfont in the fall of 2023, they had no idea how impactful their experience would be.
“Being in the class and realizing that we were part of something bigger than ourselves; that we were bringing out the stories and the lives of enslaved people primarily in Kentucky was very
By Kody Kiser and Jenny Wells-Hosley
Anastasia Curwood, history professor and director of the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies at UK, and Austin Zinkle, postdoc and co-leader, discuss Civil Rights and Restorative Justice-Kentucky on the latest episode of "Behind the Blue."LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 6, 2024) — “Every single one of them said, ‘My God, I had no idea something like this happened.’ I think they are learning something about their communities that they didn’t know before.”
Anastasia Curwood, history professor and director of the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies at the
By Jenny Wells-Hosley and Lauren Parsons
Representatives from the Digital Access Project celebrated the completion of the first milestone of the project at an event at the Old Fayette County Courthouse in Lexington on Nov. 14. Photo by Honeysage Photo Co.LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 15, 2023) — More than 77,000 physical pages of Fayette County’s historical records, spanning from the late 1700s through 1865, are now digitized and publicly accessible online, thanks to a project led by University of Kentucky scholars, students and community partners. The project aims to help families and researchers piece together information and previously unknown
By Richard LeComte
Akiko TakenakaLEXINGTON, Ky. -- After years of military rule and devastating war, women in Japan led the effort in promoting peace. During the Cold War, peace activism was considered a communist activity, but the women’s identities as mothers enabled them to avoid the label. The struggle of these women fascinates Akiko Takenaka so much that she wrote a book about it.
“They said, ‘We are mothers, we produce lives, and therefore we are the protectors of lives. We care about children the most, and we must protect our children,’” said Takenaka, associate professor of history at the University of Kentucky and inaugural director of the Global Asias Program.
Takenaka’s book, “Mothers Against War: Gender, Motherhood, and Peace Activism in Postwar Japan,” is due out in 2024 from the University of Hawai’i Press.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 26, 2023) — Growing up in Winder, Georgia, a historic suburb northeast of Atlanta, Norina Samuels discovered that the quality time she spent with her family differed from that of her peers. While others reveled in exhilarating amusement parks and lavish beach getaways, Samuels' single mother, Karen, defied convention as she loaded Samuels and her brother into the family car and visited cemeteries.
“All my classmates asked, ‘Where did you go for Spring Break?’” Samuels said. “They all went to Myrtle Beach, and I answered, ‘I was looking up dead people.’ That’s what my mom enjoyed — she was really interested in genealogy. We spent a lot of our off-school time just traipsing along to the graveyards, so I got into looking at the headstones and all that stuff.”
By visiting cemeteries scattered
By Richard LeComte
Dorian ClevelandLEXINGTON, Ky. -- Dorian Cleveland likes history — so much so he made it his major.
“It's always been a passion of mine,” said Cleveland, a University of Kentucky senior from Lexington. “I’ve liked it since I was a little kid. A lot of my elders would tell us that history is one of those things that is always impacting the present, no matter how you interpret it. And I had really good history teachers in high school. I would say that's where my passion for it comes from.”
Cleveland graduated from UK in spring 2023 with a history major. Over the summer, he finished an internship with the Lexington History Museum, and started studying for a master’s in history at UK this fall. While an undergraduate, he translated his passion for history into a potential career through internships with
Amber Sergent, a Woodford County High School social studies teacher, was named Kentucky High School Teacher of the Year for 2023. Sergent received her doctorate in history from the University of Kentucky in 2012. In an interview with UK undergraduate Grace Yi, she discusses what led her to her degree at UK, her rural upbringing, and her teaching philosophy.
Yi: How did you get into history?
Amber Sergent and Grace YiSergent: I have a background in animal science. I was here at UK going into AG education, and I took a History of Kentucky class and loved it. For whatever reason, I decided to transfer during my undergrad years to Morehead State. I earned my history and government degrees there with a minor in animal science. I was heading to the Peace Corps; I got my placement and everything, but instead, I opted to go
