Jack Ellis Lectures on "Medicine and Memory in the Oral Histories of Alabama's Black Physicians"

Fascinating talk by Jack D. Ellis, Professor of History Emeritus, UAH.  

History MA Student Betty Bolte Publishes "Hometown Heroines"

The history department congratulates MA student Betty Bolte, who has had her 2001 book, Hometown Heroines: True Stories of Bravery, Daring, and Adventure, published as an e book (ISBN 9781614173601; $3.99). It will soon be re-released in print for $5.99.

Hometown Heroines is a collection of fictionalized accounts of the events that made 18 girls from the 1800s famous and honored with landmarks (mountain, park, railroad bridge, memorial plaques, statues, etc.) in their hometowns and other cities across our country. Several girls from Alabama and Tennessee are featured.

This is the book's description:

"During the 1800s, daring and courageous girls across America left their unique mark on history.

Milly Cooper galloped 9 miles through hostile Indian Territory to summon help when Fort Cooper was under attack.

Belle Boyd risked her life spying for the Rebels during the Civil War.

Kate Shelly, when she was 15, crawled across a nearly washed-out railroad bridge during a ferocious thunderstorm to warn the next train.

Lucille Mulhall, age 14, outperformed cowboys to become the World’s First Famous Cowgirl.

These are just a few of the inspiring true stories inside Hometown Heroines—American Girls who faced danger and adversity and made a difference in their world."

Betty is a current graduate student in History, and previously received an M.A. in English in 2008 from UAH. Betty writes that "This combination is intentional, so that I can strive to 'make history entertaining' for young adult and adult readers alike. I am also writing historical romances with the same intention."

Betty's web site is www.bettybolte.com. She can also be found on Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter.

Congratulations, Betty. We are so proud of you!

UAHuntsville Alum Whitney Snow Wins Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award

Congratulations to UAH history alumna Whitney Snow, currently a PhD candidate at Mississippi State University, who has won a Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning award. Her initiating Phi Kappa Phi chapter was UAHuntsville's chapter! You can read more about the award here. Way to go, Whitney!

Congratulations to Christine Sears on Book Publication!

The history department congratulates Dr. Christine Sears on her forthcoming book, American Slaves and African Masters: Algiers and the Western Sahara, 1776-1820, soon to be published with Palgrave Macmillan. In this book, Christine argues that Americans captured by Barbary pirates and shipwrecked in the Western Sahara endured slavery and that a careful, focused examination of these slaveries has not been conducted yet. Because these slaveries differed so much from U.S. slavery, some contemporaries and modern scholars have been reluctant to categorize their experiences as “slavery.” Christine maintains that U.S. slavery was an outlier when placed in the context of world history, and thus should not be used as a measure against which to judge all slaveries. To understand these seemingly “peculiar institutions,” she uses a two pronged approach. First, instead of conflating centuries and locations, she individually examines Algerian and Western Saharan slavery during the years of the early American republic. Second, she uses a comparative framework, contrasting the African enslavement of Americans and Europeans to slaveries in the Mediterranean, Ottoman world, and the United States. Her work illuminates the commonalities and the peculiarities of different slaveries and contributes to a growing body of literature that showcases the flexibility of slavery as an institution. Kudos to Christine!

Welcome to Visiting Assistant Professor Anna Alexander!

The history department is pleased to welcome Dr. Anna Alexander as Visiting Assistant Professor for academic year 2012-2013. Anna was born and raised in Chico, California. She received her B.A. in history from California State University, Chico. She earned her M.A. in Latin American Studies and her Ph.D. in history from the University of Arizona. She teaches upper-level courses in modern and colonial Latin American history, specializing in environmental history and urban development. Anna most recently taught at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. She is currently working on a book-length manuscript about fire hazards in late nineteenth-century Mexico City. This project has allowed her to combine her interests in urban and environmental histories with the history of technology, medicine, and natural disasters. In her free time Anna enjoys playing tennis, reading fiction, baking, and playing with her two cats, Dotty and Boris. Welcome, Anna!

Congrats to our Spring 2012 Graduates!

The history department is happy to congratulate our Spring 2012 graduates, honored at the Propst Arena of von Braun Center on May 5, 2012. Graduating with an MA degree in history was Matthew Menarchek. Graduating with MA degrees in history as well as Grades 6-12 teaching certifications were Derrick Chatterton and John Milling. Our BA degree graduates included Michael Barnes, Vaughn Bocchino, Jennifer Coe, Sabrina Rabah, Hannah Ross, Ryan Sippel, Amanda Smith, and Kimberly Willis. Congratulations to you all -- we are very proud of you. Be sure to stay in touch and let us know about your next adventures in life and work!

Welcome to Visiting Assistant Professor Kira Robison!

The history department is happy to welcome Dr. Kira Robison as Visiting Assistant Professor for academic year 2012-2013. Kira is a recent Ph.D. from the history department at the University of Minnesota. Kira's specialization is medieval history, with an interest in ancient history that stretches as far back as her bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and master’s degrees from the University of Denver. Her research topics are varied, but focus mainly on the history of medicine, law, and religion during the Middle Ages. Her dissertation, “Anathomia: Physicians, the Medical School, and Teaching the Body in Medieval Bologna” explores the role of anatomy in medical education at the University of Bologna from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries while paying close attention to the civic context of the students and professors of medicine that had an impact on the development of the medical school during this period. (Yes, there’s some political history in there, too). She has written several encyclopedia articles and has a piece forthcoming in the edited volume Medicine and Law in the Middle Ages, in which she investigates the medieval antecedents for Bologna’s sixteenth-century physician tribunal and their regulation of medicine and surgery amongst city practitioners. In her downtime, she likes to potter about the garden and read any novel (or comic book) not nailed down. Welcome, Kira!