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The fruits of their labors

Historian Lawrence Glickman writes in this Slate piece about the origins of Thanksgiving as the "free enterprise holiday."

Tamika Nunley is Professor of History with courses and research focusedon the history of slavery, African American women's and gender history, the early Republic, and the American Civil War.Her first book, At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C. (University of North Carolina Press, 2021) reveals how African American women—enslaved, fugitive, and free—imagined new identities and lives beyond the oppressive restrictions intended to prevent them from experiencing liberty, self-respect, and power. Consulting nineteenth-century newspapers, government documents, letters, abolitionist records, legislation, and memoirs, Nunley traces how black women navigated social and legal proscriptions to develop their own ideas about liberty as they escaped from slavery, initiated freedom suits, created entrepreneurial economies, pursued education, and participated in political work. In telling these stories, Nunley places black women at the vanguard of the history of Washington D.C., and illuminates how they contributed to the momentous transformations of nineteenth-century America. This book was named the 2021 Letitia Woods Brown Book prize winner for best book in African American women's history, the 2021 Pauli Murray Book prize winner for best book in Black intellectual history and the 2021 Mary Kelley prize winner for best bookpublished in women, gender, or sexuality in the Early American Republic .

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Mostafa Minawi

I am interested in the history of experience at the end of the Age of Empire. In short, experiential history of global events. I study the global history of imperialism seen primarily through the lens of Ottoman-, Turkish-, and Arabic-language archival records and the everyday lived experience of people living in Southeast Europe, Northeast Africa, and West Asia. I am interested in uncovering how the region's people experienced the often violent transition from Ottoman imperial rule to Western colonial rule, and on to the age of the nation-state.

/mostafa-minawi

Alumni gift to A&S supports doctoral students in the humanities

A $5 million alumni gift will help to support doctoral students in humanities fields within the College of Arts & Sciences.

The lessons "Moby Dick" has for a warming world of rising waters

Aaron Sachs, professor of environmental history, nominates the novel "Moby-Dick" as the most helpful climate manual ever written.

Two students wearing lab coats examining a beaker of something yellow in a lab.

Nexus Scholars Program applications now open

The program connects undergraduates in A&S with opportunities to work side by side on research with Cornell faculty from across the College.

Library boosts new digitization projects

Four projects have been selected for Cornell Library’s annual Grants Program for Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences, which boosts the collaboration of scholars and library specialists to transform physical materials into lasting online resources for teaching and research.

Figure shadowed by shelves of library books

What to read in 2022? A&S faculty weigh in

A&S faculty offer book and poetry recommendations for the new year.

Economic sanctions evolved into tool of modern war

Economic sanctions have long been considered a nonviolent deterrent, but ironically they have become a tool of modern warfare, according to a new book by Nicholas Mulder, assistant professor of history.

Historian delves into LGBTQ life and the American home

The intimacy of domestic space was a crucial aspect of LGBTQ life in the postwar era, according to historian Stephen Vider, who explores that history in his new book.

Keynes warned the world against using economic sanctions

In an op-ed in The Guardian, Nicholas Mulder argues that aiding allies is more effective than sanctioning foes.

‘Saber rattling’ over Ukraine highlights the region’s complicated past

Faculty experts comment on the evolving situation between Russia and Ukraine.

The head and shoulders of a man wearing a wreath of leaves and a cloak over armor.

Putin’s goal of ‘breaking NATO’ evokes past Soviet, Roman leaders

Prof. Barry Strauss comments on Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands about Ukraine.

Black sports history topic of Cornell Seymour Lecture

The talk “Reframing Boobie Miles: Racial Iconicity and the Transmedia Black Athlete,” by Dr. Samantha N. Sheppard, will explore the meaning of the black athlete, using Boobie Miles, as portrayed in the multimedia franchise “Friday Night Lights,” as her case study.

Cornell History Courses: Spring 2022

This semester, many history courses are offered. You can check out History Course descriptions on our Course Flyers Page and our Current Course Listings page which link to the Course Roster for registration purposes.The article photo is for HIST 4195 Identity Politics in the Ibero-Atlantic (also JWST 4195) (HPE, HEU)Thursday: 11:20-1:15Dr...

Tamara Loos

Email: History_Chair@cornell.eduTamara Loos's most recent book, Bones around My Neck: The Life and Exile of a Prince Provocateur, narrates the story of Prince PrisdangChumsai (1852–1935). He served as Siam’s first diplomat to Europe during the most dramatic moment of Siam’s political history, when its independence was threatened by European imperialism. Despite serving with patriotic zeal, he suffered irreparable social and political ruin based on rumors about fiscal corruption, sexual immorality, and political treason. In Bones around My Neck, Tamara Loos pursues the truth behind these rumors, which chased Prisdang out of Siam. Her book recounts the personal and political adventures of an unwitting provocateur who caused a commotion in every country he inhabited.

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