Exhibit and Website: Dora and the V-2: Slave Labor and the Space Age

The history department is proud to be collaborating with colleagues in the art and art history departments and the College of Liberal Arts at UAH to organize an upcoming exhibit "Dora and the V-2: Slave Labor in the Space Age."

The exhibit will be on the campus of UAH from February 21 to March 12, 2010. The exhibit has an accompanying website www.dora.uah.edu, and received major funding from the Alabama Humanities Foundation.

Both the website and the exhibit explore the history of forced labor in the construction of the V–2 missiles at the Dora concentration camp and Mittelwerk underground factory near Nordhausen, Germany, during World War II. The stories center on the victims of Dora, the prisoners from many nations who were forced to work in the camp and its sub-camps and in the underground factory assembling the V–2. Usually, especially in Huntsville, Alabama, the V–2 is remembered through the engineers who designed it, rather than the forced laborers who put it together. Yet the prisoners died by the score or lived through dehumanizing cruelty, and their experiences deserve to be remembered.

The exhibit features:

• First U.S. showing of work from two European museums:
• La Coupole, History and Remembrance Center, Saint-Omer, France
• Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial and Museum, Nordhausen, Germany

From La Coupole:

• Color photos of V–2 forced labor taken by Hitler’s favorite photographer
• Artwork created by Dora's victims and survivors

From Mittelbau-Dora Museum:

• "Forced Labour for the 'Final Victory': Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp, 1943-1945," a new traveling poster collection
• Artifacts

From UAHuntsville:

• Snapshots taken by John Rison Jones, a resident of Huntsville who helped liberate Dora and documented its horrors with his camera

There are also associated talks by pre-eminent experts from France, Germany, and the United States.

Please check out website and stay tuned to our Events blog for reminders of Dora-associated lectures and performances.  There is also a Facebook Group page.

The website will remain after the exhibit closes as a testament to the suffering of the slave laborers of Dora.

Check out History Major Elisabeth Spalding's Blog from her Study Abroad Semester in Oslo, Norway!

The faculty of the history department are very excited for history major Elisabeth Spalding, who is currently studying abroad in Oslo, Norway, through the University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC), to which UAH is affiliated. Elisabeth is passionate about Scandinavian literature and history and is excited to study and live in Norway and visit other sites in Scandinavia and Europe.

Elisabeth has started a blog to document her experiences, "Hobbit Abroad: Adventures of a 5'1 Globetrotting Student from the States."

Please check it out!

Pictured here is Elisabeth in snowy Norway. We look forward to following her adventures as she learns and grows through her study abroad experience.

Congratulations to Brian Tyson, Chosen for Teach for America

The history department congratulations graduating senior Brian Tyson, who has been chosen by Teach for America to spend the next year teaching at a high school in Houston, Texas. He will begin training in June and assume his teaching position in August 2010.

Brian says that he applied for Teach for America because he wanted to contribute to furthering social justice by working to close the achievement gap between affluent and low income schools. He credits his history coursework at UAH with helping him prepare for Teach for America by improving his writing skills and by forcing him to develop strong organizational skills and discipline. He also worked as a Peer Assisted Study Session (PASS) tutor for Dr. James' Isbell's History 103 courses in Fall 2009 and found this experience very beneficial.

After completing his teaching service, Brian plans to pursue a PhdD in International Affairs or attend law school and focus on international law.

Best of luck, Brian!

Update from MA Alum Whitney Snow

The history department is pleased to have received an update from alumna Whitney Snow, MA 2008, who is now pursuing a PhD at Mississippi State University in the fields of Nineteenth-Century United States, Post-Civil War South, Women's Studies, and Agricultural/Rural/Environmental History.

Whitney has served as Teaching Assistant for two Early U.S. courses and one Modern U.S. course and as instructor of record for one Modern U.S. course.

She also had an article published: "Slave Owner, Slave Trader, Gentleman: Slavery and the Rise of Andrew Jackson," The Journal of East Tennessee History 80 (2008): 47-59. Pictured here is an image of Andrew Jackson published in the article.



We are very proud of Whitney and wish her much continued success!

Congratulations to Fall 2009 History Graduates

The history department congratulates its most recent graduates, who received their degrees Friday December 18 and Saturday December 19, 2009. Alan Backer received an MA degree in History, and William "Bill" Bailey III, Alyson Buck, Rachel Hillman, Lewis Martin, Elizabeth "Beth" Simmons, Casey Smith, Dawn Suiter, and Christopher Weed received BA degrees in history, with Hillman, Martin, Simmons, and Suiter receiving Class B, History and Social Sciences, Grades 6-12 teaching certification.



Pictured here are Rachel Hillman with her daughter, Dawn Suiter and Beth Simmons, and Bill Bailey at the Liberal Arts commencement ceremony.

Congratulations to Sam Thomas on New Publication on Midwives

The history department congratulates assistant professor Sam Thomas on his new article, "Early Modern Midwifery: Splitting the Profession, Connecting the History," published in the Journal of Social History 43, No. 1 (2009): 115-38.

In this article, Sam analyzes documents from church courts to demonstrate that in early modern England a midwife's social status was key to her success as a medical practitioner. The wealthier a woman was, the better she could do the work of a midwife. He also examines changing perceptions of midwifery, arguing that in the early 1700s men and women began to view midwifery as a science, and thus a field for men rather than women.

See here a document that Sam interprets, an affidavit claiming that a midwife is 'ordinarily addicted to Lyeing, sweareing, and cursing.'

Alumnus Susanna Leberman publishes book of love letters

Susanna Leberman, who received both her BA and MA degrees from the department, recently edited a booklet of letters showing the life of Mabel Hughes, a local school teacher. Susanna found the letters while working at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library. The letters are from two of Mabel's beaus, who were "wooing her by mail." The letters, which include several from a sailor in the merchant marine, reveal amazing passion and show the literacy of a bygone era. Susanna added a narrative that puts the letters in the context of life in Huntsville in the early decades of the 20th Century and selected photos. Mabel's story became part of a recent theater production at Merrimack Hall; Susanna was a historical consultant for the play. You can buy the book at the main branch of the library in the archives on the third floor.