Category: Public History Initiative Research Blog


SCSS PHI Interns Kisha Emmanuel and Charles Thomason explore the Jennie B. Scott Family Papers

The Summersell Center for Southern History’s Public History Initiative partners students with on-campus and local organizations, such as the Gorgas House, W.H. Hoole Special Collections Library, and local churches and clubs, to conduct research and create projects that communicate their history to the public. This semester, Kisha Emmanuel and Charles Thomason, are interning at Hoole Special Collections Library here on The University of Alabama’s campus. They have the following to say about their experiences so far: Kisha Emmanuel For this […]

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SCSS PHI Intern Lindsey Glick Explores the Role of Female Athletes at the Capstone

The Summersell Center for the Study of the South’s Public History Initiative partners students with on-campus and local organizations, such as the Gorgas House, W.H. Hoole Special Collections Library, and local churches and clubs, to conduct research and create projects that communicate their history to the public. This semester, Lindsey Glick, one of the Department of History’s undergraduate majors, is interning at the Gorgas House, here on The University of Alabama’s campus, and had the following to say about her […]

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Graduate Student Caroline Gray Interns at the Gorgas House

The Summersell Center for Southern History’s Public History Initiative partners students with on-campus and local organizations, such as the Gorgas House, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, and local churches and clubs, to conduct research and create projects that communicate their history to the public. This semester, Caroline Gray, one of the Department of History’s MA students, is interning at the Gorgas House here on The University of Alabama’s campus. She has had the following to say about her experience so […]

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Summersell Center Sponsors Visit to EJI Offices in Montgomery

Students in Dr. Giggie’s HY 400 – Southern Memory: Lynching in Alabama course visited the Equal Justice Institute in Montgomery, Alabama on October 18th as part of their work to better understand and encourage awareness of racial violence during the post-Reconstruction era in Alabama. The students, who are researching ten African-Americans lynched in Pickens County between 1883 and 1933, presented their findings to the officials at EJI. The students have been working in a variety of sources – newspapers, journals, census, wills, deeds, […]

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Summersell Center Helps UA Students tell the Stories of Tuscaloosa County Lynching Victims.

This article appeared originally on The University of Alabama’s Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility’s website. by Erin Mosley and Jamon Smith Dr. John Giggie describes the eras most Americans refer to as Reconstruction, the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties as periods of racial terror for a significant portion of the country’s population. “At a time when the United States was in fact growing and prospering, many African-Americans feared for their lives,” says Giggie, associate professor of history and […]

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PHI Intern Ryan Tullock Explores House Museums

By Ryan Tullock I went on my first house tour when I was in the eighth grade. I toured The Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee. I can almost remember every detail about that tour and was blown away by the fact that someone, albeit a very important someone, had their house turned into a museum. From that point on, it has been a wish of mine to be involved with a house museum of some sort. With that in mind, and […]

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PHI Intern Matthew Culver Works with Gorgas House to Create Exhibit on Centennial of US Entry into WW I

By Matthew Culver For the spring of 2017 I am working with the Gorgas House Museum to curate and display an exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of American entry into the First World War. I chose this internship to compliment my prior experience in military museums, as well as have the opportunity to serve in a “leadership” capacity during exhibit curation, which will afford me invaluable experience in the curation process. I picked the subject of WWI based on my […]

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PHI Intern Ashley Tickle Creating an Exhibit at the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library on a Day in the Life of a Miner

By Ashley Nicole Tickle I decided to do the project at the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library because I am interested in museum work. I felt that creating an exhibit using the materials in the collection would give me the best experience for that type of work. Lewis and I met with Dr. Kate Matheny, the Reference Services and Outreach Coordinator for Special Collections at Hoole, in mid-December 2016 to discuss what materials are available to work with. She presented […]

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PHI Intern Kevin McPartland Works with Tuscaloosa’s First United Methodist Church

By Kevin McPartland I became interested in this project because of the time period spanned by the Church. The Church has its beginnings in some very unique times in American history. Not only was it a product of the second great awakening, but it also comes about during Alabama fever, and the establishment of a slave economy in what was then the American Southwest. Early America through the Civil War is my area of interest, so this project provides a […]

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PHI Intern Morgan Wilson Works with Civil Rights Commission

By Morgan Wilson This spring, I am participating in the Civil Rights Commission internship, which involves gathering and compiling information on civil rights in West Alabama. I chose to work on this project because I want to learn more about the rich but often underestimated civil rights events and legacies of the Tuscaloosa area. While American history and civil rights are not subjects that I have formally researched in recent years, I have a very personal investment in these topics […]

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