By Jane Turner Censer (NHC Fellow, 1983–84) Many historians of late have portrayed upper-class southerners of the antebellum period as inordinately aristocratic and autocratic. Some have even seen in the planters’ family relations the faint yet distinct shadow of a master’s dealings with his slaves. Challenging such commonly held assumptions about the attitudes and actions … Continued
Edited by P. Gabrielle Foreman (NHC Fellow, 2003–04) and Reginald H. Pitts First published in 1859, Our Nig is an autobiographical narrative that stands as one of the most important accounts of the life of a black woman in the antebellum North. In the story of Frado, a spirited black girl who is abused and overworked as … Continued
Edited by Robert Beachy (NHC Fellow, 2006–07) and Michele Gillespie Recent work on the history of migration and the Atlantic World has underscored the importance of the political economies of Europe, Africa, and the Americas in the eighteenth century, emphasizing the impact of these exchanges on political relations and state-building, and on economic structures, commerce, … Continued
By Jack P. Greene (NHC Fellow, 1986–87; 1987–88; 2009–10) In this book, Jack Greene reinterprets the meaning of American social development. Synthesizing literature of the previous two decades on the process of social development and the formation of American culture, he challenges the central assumptions that have traditionally been used to analyze colonial British American … Continued
Edited by Irena Kossowska (NHC Fellow, 2009–10) Reinterpreting the Past is a modified version of the collection of papers presented during an international conference organized in September 2006 by the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. The debate was attended … Continued
By Jeffrey R. Kerr-Ritchie (NHC Fellow, 2003–04) Thirty years before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the antislavery movement won its first victory in the British Parliament. On August 1, 1834, the Abolition of Slavery Bill took effect, ending colonial slavery throughout the British Empire. Over the next three decades, "August First Day," also known as … Continued
By Thomas R. Flynn (NHC Fellow, 1991–92) Sartre and Foucault were two of the most prominent and at times mutually antagonistic philosophical figures of the twentieth century. And nowhere are the antithetical natures of their existentialist and poststructuralist philosophies more apparent than in their disparate approaches to historical understanding. A history, thought Foucault, should be … Continued
By Richard W. Unger (NHC Fellow, 2008–09) Renaissance map-makers produced ever more accurate descriptions of geography, which were also beautiful works of art. They filled the oceans Europeans were exploring with ships and to describe the real ships which were the newest and best products of technology. Above all the ships were there to show … Continued
By Akasha Gloria Hull (NHC Fellow, 1994–95) From the last part of the twentieth century through today, African-American women have experienced a revival of spirituality and creative force, fashioning a uniquely African-American way to connect with the divine. In Soul Talk, Akasha Gloria Hull examines this multifaceted spirituality that has both fostered personal healing and functioned … Continued
By Timothy D. Taylor (NHC Fellow, 1999–00) In Strange Sounds, Timothy D. Taylor explains the wonder and anxiety provoked by a technological revolution that began in the 1940s and gathers steam daily. Taylor discusses the ultural role of technology, its use in making music, and the inevitable concerns about "authenticity" that arise from electronic music. Informative … Continued