By Lindsey Piercy

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 

LEXINGTON, 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

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.

By Daniel Flener 

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 

LEXINGTON, 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

Excellence in Teaching Large Courses Award

Innovative Teaching Award

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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Antisemitism has been on the rise in Kentucky and across the U.S. since 2016, including a 36% increase nationally

By Lindsey Piercy

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

By Kody Kiser and Kayla Gales 

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

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

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 

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 

LEXINGTON, 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 

LEXINGTON, 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?

Sergent: 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

By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- History can be as exciting as live drama, as Abigail Mortell has found. Mortell, a recent University of Kentucky history major and Lewis Honors College student, took her research into the history of indigenous peoples in Brazil and turned it into a play, which received first place for Humanities: Creative in the annual Oswald Research and Creativity Competition in UK’s Office of Undergraduate Research.

The play, “Surviving the Sertão: A Play in Two Acts,” originated as a creative assignment in a class taught by Erik Myrup, associate professor of history.

"I submitted a play in two acts, which has a historical basis, but it’s also fictional,” Mortell said.  "I intended to provide the historical perspective from the native side, which we don't actually have in real life. But it had to be rooted in

By Robby Hardesty 

UK Libraries has recognized seniors Seth Garcia and Anna Watrous with the 2023 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Scholarship. The annual prize celebrates exceptional and original scholarship in a traditional paper and a media or digital project, and is awarded to students whose research makes substantive and creative use of UK Libraries’ collections, services and resources.

Garcia, a history, anthropology, and secondary social studies education major, was awarded for “A Peculiar Institution: White Supremacy and the Black Guides of Mammoth Cave.”

Analyzing mid- to late-19th century diaries, guidebooks and travelers’ accounts, Garcia examined the white perspective of