In This Issue

Sarah K. Miles earned her B.A. in History from the University of Oklahoma in 2016 and entered the Ph.D. program in history at UNC Chapel Hill that same year. Working with Donald Reid and Lloyd Kramer, Sarah wrote her dissertation “One and the Same Struggle: Francophone Intellectuals, Global Solidarity, and Postcolonial Publishing from Paris to Algeria and Québec, 1959-1974,” which she defended in the winter of 2024. With this dissertation, Sarah won the Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award, one of the most prestigious awards given by UNC, proving the academic importance of her work and becoming a source of pride for …Read more here

Despite their vital contributions to the Union’s war effort, many African American sailors remain overlooked in Civil War histories today. Historian Adam Domby, an associate professor at Auburn University who received his Ph.D in History at UNC in 2015, is looking to spotlight these sailors’ crucial wartime roles with his project “Freedom’s War on the Waters: The Forgotten Story of How African Americans Won the Civil War at Sea and Saved the Union.” Even in its developing stages, this groundbreaking research is garnering some prestigious accolades. Domby recently received the Huntington Library’s Kemble Fellowship, an honor strictly reserved for scholars …Read more here

Elizabeth Ellis’ The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South — a project which grew out of her doctoral dissertation at UNC Chapel Hill — has made waves in early American history and Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) like few other scholars’ first books. Incredibly, Ellis’ work has already been featured as the focal point of a roundtable in The William and Mary Quarterly, one of American history’s most distinguished journals. On top of writing a celebrated book, the UNC Alumna has also co-authored an article titled “Indigenous, Native American, or American Indian? The Limitations …Read more here

Since 1993, Sarah Shields has taught in the UNC History Department, specializing in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Middle East and teaching political, environmental, and social history courses on the region. Shields served as the director of the UNC Honors Study Abroad Program in Cape Town in Fall 2023. She and I discussed her experience. Q: What is the general structure of this school? How many students did you have and what was the selection process like? A: The UNC Honors Study Abroad Program in Cape Town is officially connected with the University of Cape Town (UCT), but it’s mostly a …Read more here

This November, the History department’s Career Mentor Coalition (CMC) met in person for the first time after two years of virtual gatherings. The CMC was created to offer History majors (and double majors) an opportunity to connect with mentors who have previously graduated from the UNC History program. Students met with past graduates in order to network and learn more about how to use a history degree to excel in a nontraditional career pathway. The CMC was founded in 2020 amidst an unprecedented global pandemic, but was able to thrive through remote networking events and online meetings. Now after four …Read more here

The 2023-2024 academic year has been a success for the Digital History Lab! This success is thanks to the hard work of graduate co-directors Maddie McGrady and Sarah Miles, as well as undergraduate work-study students Cameron Neale and Micah Morton-James. Together, the DHL team has aimed to expand its offerings while staying committed to the founding principle of using digital tools to enrich historical teaching, research, and storytelling. From curating weekly newsletters to hosting podcast interviews, the work of the DHL has encouraged students and faculty to explore what it means to be a digital historian. One of the major …Read more here

Traces, the UNC Journal of History, is celebrating the release of their 2024 issue. In this upcoming volume, readers will find original historical work by six undergraduates from UNC Chapel Hill and eight undergraduates from a variety of UNC system schools. It also features book reviews from two graduate students from our History Department. This is the journal’s twelfth volume, and the first under a brand-new graduate editorial board and new Editor-in-Chief, Aaron Pattillo-Lunt. The purpose of the journal is to showcase stellar undergraduate writing across the UNC system, highlighting the importance of celebrating their original research. The topics in …Read more here

Featuring superb acting, lavish production design, and moments of jaw-dropping violence, FX’s Shōgun has earned the adoration of global audiences and critics alike. The show is based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel of the same name, a work which first introduced many Americans to the setting of early seventeenth-century Japan. Shōgun depicts a bloody power struggle among various regents following the death of Japan’s previous ruler, referred to onscreen as the Taikō. Audiences view the world largely through the eyes of Englishman John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis). Beyond its focus on Japan’s internal politics, the show also delves into the clash …Read more here

Going to the various Civil War battlefields in North Carolina, it becomes obvious to observers that the exhibits tend to focus on the military aspects of the site, and less on the primary cause of the Civil War: the enslavement of millions of African Americans in the South. In fact, until relatively recently, the lives of African Americans were ignored in Southern history. The Office of the Provost has recognized Dr. Antwain Hunter, a faculty member in our department, with an Award for Engaged Research, for his work illuminating the history of African Americans in North Carolina. Dr. Hunter has …Read more here