By University Press of Kentucky and Danielle Donham

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 17, 2020) — When the Declaration of Independence was signed by a group of wealthy white men in 1776, poor white men, African Americans and women quickly discovered that the unalienable rights it promised were not truly for all. 

The 19th Amendment eventually gave women the right to vote in 1920, but the change was not welcomed by people of all genders in politically and religiously conservative Kentucky. As a result, the suffrage movement in the Commonwealth involved a tangled web of stakeholders, entrenched interest groups, unyielding constitutional barriers and activists with competing strategies.

In this new release from the 

Carson Benn received the 2020 James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for research on Appalachia.  He will be presenting his work during the academic year 2020-21: “Broadcasting Region: The Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction and the Case for an Appalachian Network.”

Eladio Bobadilla is a new dad. Ellison Ted Bobadilla came into the world on Monday, Sept. 28.  Timaree and the babe are doing great. Congratulations, Timaree and Eladio. Eladio Bobadilla, along with other scholars, shared his thoughts about the Louisville protests: 

By Julie Wrinn

For Dr. Jim Albisetti, the angels are in the details.

He was a familiar figure in Patterson Office Tower -- certainly on the 17th floor, where the History Department resides, but also on the 11th and third floors, where the Honors Program used to be housed, and on the second floor, where staff members in the Dean’s Office knew we could rely on his impeccable proofreading skills whenever they had a deadline looming.

That attention to detail served him well as a scholar of 19th-century German and western European history. His teaching interests also extended through the 20th century, including the history of education and the professions, social history of the middle classes and women’s history. On his retirement this year after a 41-year career at the University of Kentucky, I heard from two of the many students he mentored over the years.

By Richard LeComte

Amy Murrell Taylor, T. Marshall Hahn, Jr. Professor in the Department of History, is the 2020-21 Distinguished Professor in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences. 

“Professor Taylor is outstanding in every aspect of her performance at the University of Kentucky, in her stellar award-winning research, her inspired teaching and her dedicated and extensive service,” said Christian Brady, A&S interim dean.

Her book “Embattled Freedom: Journeys Through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps,” published in 2018 by the University of North Carolina Press, won seven prizes including the Frederick Douglass Book Prize from the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition.

“Amy Murrell Taylor is a truly outstanding scholar, a

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 18, 2020) — “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”

The words seem simple enough, but when they were ratified by the states 100 years ago, those words reflected the culmination of decades-long efforts by suffragists of all backgrounds.

On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote — marking a monumental moment in history. But suffrage battles continued as women of color remained barred from casting ballots in states with intimidation tactics.

Today, it’s imperative that we — as a society — reflect on the women’s suffrage movement and those who made meaningful contributions. These figures include Laura Clay, who toured the United States

By Jay Blanton

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 5, 2020) — University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto and faculty leaders in the African American and Africana Studies (AAAS) program on Wednesday announced the establishment of the proposed Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies — a multidisciplinary program that will highlight UK’s growing research around issues of race and racism.

Capilouto and AAAS faculty on Thursday announced an initial $250,000 investment as seed money to leverage additional investment to help the institute move forward with a critical series of initiatives. The creation of a new institute, ultimately, must receive approval from UK’s University Senate.

The interdisciplinary institute will establish research clusters across the campus and promote UK’s growing research and scholarship on topics

By Danielle Donham and University Press of Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 2, 2020): The University Press of Kentucky is highlighting several titles written by Black authors throughout its list, including several which are as part of their open access initiative in collaboration with UK Libraries. Some of these authors are faculty members of UK’s College of Arts & Sciences.

“The University Press of Kentucky has a long tradition of showcasing Black voices and stories,” said Ashley Runyon, director of the press. “From our award-winning Civil Rights series to

By Jay Blanton and Kody Kiser

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 22, 2020) — Tracy Campbell is the E. Vernon Smith and Eloise C. Smith Professor of American History at the University of Kentucky. He has written well-received accounts of voter fraud in the country, a biography of the Gateway Arch and a compelling biography of Ed Prichard, a legendary name in Kentucky politics whose life was a story of tragedy and redemption.

Recently, Campbell’s latest book was published — "The Year of Peril: America in 1942." It is a month-by-month chronicle of 1942, a tumultuous and often unsettling year in which America fully engaged in World War II. The deeply researched and richly detailed book underscores the fragility of democracy, the challenge of mobilizing a

By Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 19, 2020) ⁠— It’s been said that history can help us understand the present and inform the future.

Let’s travel back to April 9, 1865. At the Appomattox Court House in Virginia, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate troops to the Union’s Ulysses S. Grant — ending an excruciating four-year-long battle.

The Civil War came to a close, but a number of African Americans across the United States remained enslaved — forced to continue as if freedom didn’t exist.

This was especially the case in Texas, where thousands of enslaved people weren’t freed until June 19, 1865. Their long-awaited celebration would serve as the foundation of Juneteenth.

Today, the holiday, which celebrates the abolition of slavery, coincides with protests across the U.S.