History

On Saturday, May 31, C-SPAN 3 aired a talk given by History Associate Professor Anne Rubin at the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. The talk was part of the 2014 Civil War Symposium held at the beginning of May. Rubin discussed Union General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea and the concept of “civilized war.” In 1864, General Sherman marched his troops from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, and Rubin described the destruction along the way as setting the precedent for “total war” tactics in subsequent conflicts. Rubin opens her talk by discussing basic Google and Internet searches of General Sherman and that many… Continue Reading Anne Rubin, History, on C-SPAN

Washington, D.C. hasn’t directly funded its shadow delegation to Congress, the city’s official statehood lobby, since the first elections for the positions were held in 1990. However, just last week, Mayor Vincent Gray released a budget for fiscal 2015 that includes $100,000 for the delegation. George Derek Musgrove ’97, history, assistant professor of history, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post titled, “D.C.’s shadow delegation: It’s not the money, it’s the strategy,” in which he argued the money could help the delegation, but only if it changes its approach. “Since its creation, the shadow delegation has focused its energy on lobbying members of… Continue Reading George Derek Musgrove, History, Op-Ed in The Washington Post

A recent Washington Post column explores the possibility of District Mayor Vincent Gray being indicted on federal criminal charges while running for reelection. Gray has said he wouldn’t resign if the charges were brought and would defend himself at trial. George Derek Musgrove ’97, history, assistant professor of history, was interviewed for the column and offered his perspective on what a trial would mean for Gray if he were to continue governing. A trial “would be horrible — it would just be a magnification of the current situation,” Musgrove said. He added such a spectacle would hurt the city’s relations with Congress and… Continue Reading George Derek Musgrove, History, in The Washington Post

Meredith Oyen, an assistant professor of history, is quoted in a CNBC News article about the five-man alternative rock band from Taiwan known as Mayday that is set to kick off a tour in the United States this month. In the article, Oyen says music groups like Mayday are beginning to become more popular in countries around the world: “Mayday is starting to challenge the assumption that English-speaking pop stars are global stars, and Chinese-speaking acts are only regional ones,” she said. Oyen is currently in China serving on a Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (Beijing) external evaluation panel to evaluate… Continue Reading Meredith Oyen, History, on CNBC News Website

More than 80,000 new voters in Washington, D.C. have registered since 2010, and rapid changes in the city’s demographics are being studied as experts analyze the upcoming Democratic primary in the race for D.C. mayor. George Derek Musgrove ’97, history, assistant professor of history, was interviewed for a front page story published in The Washington Post on March 9. The article, titled “D.C.’s complexion is changing. Will the next mayor reflect that?“, examines how the upcoming mayoral election could reshape power and politics in the nation’s capital. “The identity of the city since the ’60s has been ‘Chocolate City,’ ” Musgrove said. “The last… Continue Reading George Derek Musgrove, History, in The Washington Post

Assistant Professor of History Meredith Oyen has been asked to serve on a Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (Beijing) external evaluation panel to evaluate courses in the international general education curriculum program. Oyen will serve as part of a team that will be traveling to Sanming University and Minjiang University in Fujian Province to audit classes, speak with students and faculty and review the quality of course offerings. Oyen’s main focus will be evaluating the teaching and learning outcomes for courses on U.S. history that are taught in English. She will be in China from March 14-22.

A lecture by History Associate Professor Anne Rubin in her Civil War and Reconstruction class recently aired on C-SPAN3. The class was taped by C-SPAN as part of a series on Civil War Memory and “The Lost Cause.” Rubin’s lecture analyzed how the Civil War was remembered in the decades after the conflict with a focus on the former Confederate states. In the lecture, Rubin talks about the Southern Historical Society’s contributions to The Lost Cause myth which idealized how the pre-war South was perceived. She also analyzes cemeteries and monuments that honor the Confederate dead among other topics. The… Continue Reading Anne Rubin’s Civil War History Class Appears on C-SPAN

In an Al Jazeera America op-ed titled “Two decades later, ex-Soviet republics reject absolute independence,” history associate professor Kate Brown writes that a combination of self-governance and economic integration is essential for former Soviet states in a global economy. In the column, Brown cites the example of ongoing protests in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, against the Ukrainian president’s refusal to sign European Union agreements that would facilitate trade. “The anxiety over economic well-being is not limited to Ukraine. Citizens in almost all the ex–Soviet republics are registering displeasure with their states’ autonomy at a rate that just about matches the indebtedness of those… Continue Reading Kate Brown, History, Writes Op-Ed for Al Jazeera America

Kate Brown, Associate Professor of History, presented the Social Sciences Forum “Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters,” to a large audience Wednesday afternoon in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery. Brown spoke about the plutonium disasters of the United States and Soviet Union, telling the stories of Richland, Washington and Ozersk, Russia. They are the first two cities in the world to produce plutonium. She described how American and Soviet leaders created plutopias, which are communities of nuclear families living in highly-subsidized atomic cities. For many, living in these cities was like “winning the… Continue Reading Kate Brown, History, Presents Social Sciences Forum on “Plutopia”