Faculty and Presenters
James Barrett, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
James Barrett is Professor Emeritus of History and Professor Emeritus of African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Barrett has written extensively on the history of workers during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, with particular attention to the racial and ethnic dynamics of Chicago during this pivotal period. His selected books include The Irish Way: Becoming American in the Multi-Ethnic City (Penguin Press, 2012), William Z. Foster and the Tragedy of American Radicalism (Univeristy of Illinois Press, 2000), Work and Community in The Jungle: Chicago's Packinghouse Workers, 1894-1922 (University of Illinois Press, 1987). Barrett has also edited new editions of Hutchins Hapgood's The Spirit of Labor and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Barrett's scholarship and teaching have earned numerous awards. His talk will examine "The World of the Worker in the Era of The Jungle."
James Barrett is Professor Emeritus of History and Professor Emeritus of African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Barrett has written extensively on the history of workers during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, with particular attention to the racial and ethnic dynamics of Chicago during this pivotal period. His selected books include The Irish Way: Becoming American in the Multi-Ethnic City (Penguin Press, 2012), William Z. Foster and the Tragedy of American Radicalism (Univeristy of Illinois Press, 2000), Work and Community in The Jungle: Chicago's Packinghouse Workers, 1894-1922 (University of Illinois Press, 1987). Barrett has also edited new editions of Hutchins Hapgood's The Spirit of Labor and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Barrett's scholarship and teaching have earned numerous awards. His talk will examine "The World of the Worker in the Era of The Jungle."
Marcia Chatelain, Georgetown University
Marcia Chatelain, Professor of History and African American Studies at Georgetown University, is the author of South Side Girls: Growing up in the Great Migration and Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.
Marcia Chatelain, Professor of History and African American Studies at Georgetown University, is the author of South Side Girls: Growing up in the Great Migration and Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.
Boyd Cothran, York University
Born and raised in Ventura County, California, Boyd Cothran is a second-generation Okinawan-American and the first in his family to attend university. He now lives in Toronto, Canada, where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at York University. He is a former editor of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and the author of Remembering the Modoc War: Redemptive Violence and the Making of American Innocence (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), which received the 2015 Robert M. Utley Prize for the best book in military history from the Western History Association. He has also written for the New York Times, Indian Country Today, and other venues, both public and academic. More recently his research interests have gone more global in scale. He has co-edited two volumes of global history, Women Warriors and National Heroes: Global Histories (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Bridging Cultural Concepts of Nature: Indigenous People and Protect Spaces of Nature (University of Helsinki Press, 2021). He recently finished a book-length study (co-authored with Adrian Shubert) that combines global history and microhistory titled Vessel of Globalization: The Many Worlds of the “Edwin Fox,” which UNC Press will publish in September 2023. He lives with his partner and their two cats: Kuzuri and Phineas Godfrey Littlefoot.
Born and raised in Ventura County, California, Boyd Cothran is a second-generation Okinawan-American and the first in his family to attend university. He now lives in Toronto, Canada, where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at York University. He is a former editor of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and the author of Remembering the Modoc War: Redemptive Violence and the Making of American Innocence (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), which received the 2015 Robert M. Utley Prize for the best book in military history from the Western History Association. He has also written for the New York Times, Indian Country Today, and other venues, both public and academic. More recently his research interests have gone more global in scale. He has co-edited two volumes of global history, Women Warriors and National Heroes: Global Histories (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Bridging Cultural Concepts of Nature: Indigenous People and Protect Spaces of Nature (University of Helsinki Press, 2021). He recently finished a book-length study (co-authored with Adrian Shubert) that combines global history and microhistory titled Vessel of Globalization: The Many Worlds of the “Edwin Fox,” which UNC Press will publish in September 2023. He lives with his partner and their two cats: Kuzuri and Phineas Godfrey Littlefoot.
Diane Dillon, Newberry Library
Diane Dillon is a Scholar in Residence at the Newberry Library. Her research fields include American art, architecture, and visual culture; world's fairs; the history of cartography; and Chicago's history and culture. Dillon holds a Ph.D. in the history of art from Yale University. Dillon will conduct the "Urban Planning and City Beautiful Movement" architecture tour.
Diane Dillon is a Scholar in Residence at the Newberry Library. Her research fields include American art, architecture, and visual culture; world's fairs; the history of cartography; and Chicago's history and culture. Dillon holds a Ph.D. in the history of art from Yale University. Dillon will conduct the "Urban Planning and City Beautiful Movement" architecture tour.
Michelle Duster
Michelle Duster is an author, public historian, professor, and champion of racial and gender equity who has worked for over 30 years in various mediums to highlight the positive contributions of women and African Americans to the United States. She has written, edited or contributed to numerous articles and over 20 books, plus worked on monuments, markers, murals, statues, documentary films, and film festivals—all to tell stories that have frequently been omitted, skewed, or marginalized. She is determined to help current and future generations be exposed to and inspired by more inclusive and truthful representation. Her most recent books about her great-grandmother Ida B. Wells are the picture book, Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth, and the adult book Ida B. the Queen. She also co-edited the anthologies Impact: Personal Portraits of Activism and Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls.
Michelle Duster is an author, public historian, professor, and champion of racial and gender equity who has worked for over 30 years in various mediums to highlight the positive contributions of women and African Americans to the United States. She has written, edited or contributed to numerous articles and over 20 books, plus worked on monuments, markers, murals, statues, documentary films, and film festivals—all to tell stories that have frequently been omitted, skewed, or marginalized. She is determined to help current and future generations be exposed to and inspired by more inclusive and truthful representation. Her most recent books about her great-grandmother Ida B. Wells are the picture book, Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth, and the adult book Ida B. the Queen. She also co-edited the anthologies Impact: Personal Portraits of Activism and Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls.
Leon Fink, University of Illinois at Chicago
Leon Fink, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Senior Research Associate at the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University, is a specialist in American labor, immigration history, and the Gilded Age/Progressive Era. The author or editor of a dozen books, Fink's most recent work includes Undoing the Liberal World Order: Progressive Ideals and Political Realities Since World War II (Columbia University Press, 2022) and The Long Gilded Age: American Capitalism and the Lessons of New World Order (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). A Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Senior Scholar, and NEH Fellow, Professor Fink has also taken a leading role in national history education circles, where he has stressed the necessary collaboration between the university and public schools. Fink will speak on "Labor and Class Conflict in the Long Gilded Age."
Leon Fink, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Senior Research Associate at the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University, is a specialist in American labor, immigration history, and the Gilded Age/Progressive Era. The author or editor of a dozen books, Fink's most recent work includes Undoing the Liberal World Order: Progressive Ideals and Political Realities Since World War II (Columbia University Press, 2022) and The Long Gilded Age: American Capitalism and the Lessons of New World Order (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). A Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Senior Scholar, and NEH Fellow, Professor Fink has also taken a leading role in national history education circles, where he has stressed the necessary collaboration between the university and public schools. Fink will speak on "Labor and Class Conflict in the Long Gilded Age."
Adam Green, University of Chicago
Adam Green is Associate Professor of American History at the University of Chicago and the author of Selling the Race: Culture and Community in Black Chicago, 1940-1955 and co-editor of Time Longer than Rope: Studies in African American Activism, 1850–1950.
Adam Green is Associate Professor of American History at the University of Chicago and the author of Selling the Race: Culture and Community in Black Chicago, 1940-1955 and co-editor of Time Longer than Rope: Studies in African American Activism, 1850–1950.
Jeffrey Helgeson, Texas State University
Jeff Helgeson is department chair and an associate professor of labor and urban history and at Texas State University. Jeff received his Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008. His book, Crucibles of Black Empowerment: Chicago’s Neighborhood Politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2014, and he is now working on a book project titled, “The Politics of Bewilderment: Corporate Power, Desegregation, and the Fate of the Commonwealth in Boston.” Jeff is also the official historian for the design of the National Park Service Museum at the Pullman National Monument in Chicago.
Jeff Helgeson is department chair and an associate professor of labor and urban history and at Texas State University. Jeff received his Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008. His book, Crucibles of Black Empowerment: Chicago’s Neighborhood Politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2014, and he is now working on a book project titled, “The Politics of Bewilderment: Corporate Power, Desegregation, and the Fate of the Commonwealth in Boston.” Jeff is also the official historian for the design of the National Park Service Museum at the Pullman National Monument in Chicago.
Benjamin Johnson, Loyola University Chicago
Benjamin H. Johnson is Professor in the History Department and School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago. He is the author of numerous works on the U.S. Mexico border and environmental history, including Revolution in Texas: How a Forgotten Rebellion and Its Bloody Suppression Turned Mexicans into Americans (2003); Bordertown: The Odyssey of an American Place (Yale University Press, 2008); and Escaping the Dark, Gray City: Fear and Hope in Progressive Era Conservation (2017). He is also a member of “Refusing to Forget,” a public history project devoted to commemorating the legacies of the border violence of the 1910s, which has received awards from the Western History Association, the American Historical Association, and the Organization of American Historians. Johnson has served as co-editor of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, currently co-edits the Weber Series in New Borderlands History at the University of North Carolina Press, and is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and a past board member of the Texas State Historical Association.
Benjamin H. Johnson is Professor in the History Department and School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago. He is the author of numerous works on the U.S. Mexico border and environmental history, including Revolution in Texas: How a Forgotten Rebellion and Its Bloody Suppression Turned Mexicans into Americans (2003); Bordertown: The Odyssey of an American Place (Yale University Press, 2008); and Escaping the Dark, Gray City: Fear and Hope in Progressive Era Conservation (2017). He is also a member of “Refusing to Forget,” a public history project devoted to commemorating the legacies of the border violence of the 1910s, which has received awards from the Western History Association, the American Historical Association, and the Organization of American Historians. Johnson has served as co-editor of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, currently co-edits the Weber Series in New Borderlands History at the University of North Carolina Press, and is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and a past board member of the Texas State Historical Association.
Deborah Kang, University of Virginia
S. Deborah Kang is an associate professor in the Corcoran Department of History and a member of the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on both the historical and contemporary aspects of US immigration and border policy. Her first book, The INS on the Line: Making Immigration Law on the US-Mexico Border, 1917-1954 (Oxford University Press, 2017) traces the history of US immigration agencies on the US-Mexico border and earned six awards and accolades. Her current projects include a second book on the history of US immigration legalization policies and essays on the criminalization of undocumented immigration. With historian Danielle Battisti, she’s also co-editing an anthology about undocumented European migration to the United States. Kang also serves as a consultant to several federal public defender offices throughout the country, preparing research briefs on the racial animus that informed the passage of the laws criminalizing undocumented immigration and testifying as an expert witness in federal court.
S. Deborah Kang is an associate professor in the Corcoran Department of History and a member of the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on both the historical and contemporary aspects of US immigration and border policy. Her first book, The INS on the Line: Making Immigration Law on the US-Mexico Border, 1917-1954 (Oxford University Press, 2017) traces the history of US immigration agencies on the US-Mexico border and earned six awards and accolades. Her current projects include a second book on the history of US immigration legalization policies and essays on the criminalization of undocumented immigration. With historian Danielle Battisti, she’s also co-editing an anthology about undocumented European migration to the United States. Kang also serves as a consultant to several federal public defender offices throughout the country, preparing research briefs on the racial animus that informed the passage of the laws criminalizing undocumented immigration and testifying as an expert witness in federal court.
Rosina Lozano, Princeton University
Rosina Lozano is an Associate Professor at Princeton University. She is a historian of Latino history with a research and teaching focus on Mexican American history, the American West, and comparative studies in race and ethnicity. She is the author of An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States written in 2018 by the University of California Press, which won the PROSE award in Language and Linguistics and the Immigration and Ethnic History Society first book award. Her second book project, Intertwined Roots: Mexican Americans and Native Americans in the Southwest, tells the story of the ever-changing relationship between Mexican Americans and Native peoples from 1848 through the 1970s. Lozano taught high school—AP United States History, United States History, and Government and Economics—prior to earning her doctorate. She won the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award in 2019 and Most Inspirational Female Teacher Award at Fremont High School. She is also an Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer. Lozano holds an AB from Stanford University and an MA and PhD from the University of Southern California in history. She also holds an EdM from the Harvard University School of Education in Teaching and Curriculum.
Rosina Lozano is an Associate Professor at Princeton University. She is a historian of Latino history with a research and teaching focus on Mexican American history, the American West, and comparative studies in race and ethnicity. She is the author of An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States written in 2018 by the University of California Press, which won the PROSE award in Language and Linguistics and the Immigration and Ethnic History Society first book award. Her second book project, Intertwined Roots: Mexican Americans and Native Americans in the Southwest, tells the story of the ever-changing relationship between Mexican Americans and Native peoples from 1848 through the 1970s. Lozano taught high school—AP United States History, United States History, and Government and Economics—prior to earning her doctorate. She won the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award in 2019 and Most Inspirational Female Teacher Award at Fremont High School. She is also an Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer. Lozano holds an AB from Stanford University and an MA and PhD from the University of Southern California in history. She also holds an EdM from the Harvard University School of Education in Teaching and Curriculum.
Laura McEnaney, Newberry Library
Laura McEnaney is Vice President for Research and Education at the Newberry Library. She oversees four academic centers, the Newberry fellowships program, and a teacher education program. She joined the Newberry in August 2021 after teaching U.S. history for 25 years at Whittier College. She also created Whittier's first center for faculty development, offering a curriculum of courses to enable faculty to improve their teaching. Her scholarly focus is war and society, and she has published two books in this area: Civil Defense Begins at Home: Militarization Meets Everyday Life in the Fifties (Princeton University Press, 2000), and Postwar: Waging Peace in Chicago (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018). She has extensive experience collaborating with UCLA and other institutions to support K-12 teachers as they improve their content knowledge and classroom practice. She served as the Vice President of the Teaching Division for the American Historical Association for three years, rotating off in January 2022. She received her Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Laura McEnaney is Vice President for Research and Education at the Newberry Library. She oversees four academic centers, the Newberry fellowships program, and a teacher education program. She joined the Newberry in August 2021 after teaching U.S. history for 25 years at Whittier College. She also created Whittier's first center for faculty development, offering a curriculum of courses to enable faculty to improve their teaching. Her scholarly focus is war and society, and she has published two books in this area: Civil Defense Begins at Home: Militarization Meets Everyday Life in the Fifties (Princeton University Press, 2000), and Postwar: Waging Peace in Chicago (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018). She has extensive experience collaborating with UCLA and other institutions to support K-12 teachers as they improve their content knowledge and classroom practice. She served as the Vice President of the Teaching Division for the American Historical Association for three years, rotating off in January 2022. She received her Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Lindsay Stallones Marshall, University of Oklahoma
Lindsay Marshall is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Before beginning her career in higher education, she spent eleven years teaching high school history and civics. Her research focuses on Native North American history, especially the creation and perpetuation of settler colonial public memory through history education. She is currently working on a book manuscript that explores the intersection among the construction of historical narratives of the wars of westward expansion of the late 19th century, secondary U.S. history textbook narratives about those wars, and public memory. She also researches the environmental history of human-equine relationships with an emphasis on interdisciplinary and decolonial methodologies.
Lindsay Marshall is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Before beginning her career in higher education, she spent eleven years teaching high school history and civics. Her research focuses on Native North American history, especially the creation and perpetuation of settler colonial public memory through history education. She is currently working on a book manuscript that explores the intersection among the construction of historical narratives of the wars of westward expansion of the late 19th century, secondary U.S. history textbook narratives about those wars, and public memory. She also researches the environmental history of human-equine relationships with an emphasis on interdisciplinary and decolonial methodologies.
Lisa Tetrault, Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Lisa Tetrault is an associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University. She specializes in the history of gender, race, and American democracy—with an emphasis on memory and social movements. She is the author of the prize-winning book, The Myth of Seneca Falls: Memory and the Women’s Suffrage Movement, 1848-1898. A frequent commentator on the recently concluded suffrage centennial, Tetrault also served as an historical consultant for Nineteenth Amendment projects launched by the National Constitution, the Schlesinger Library, and Ancestry.com, as well as the documentary, “The Vote” ( PBS’s American Experience). Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, The New York Magazine, USA Today, The New Republic, and more. As a public historian, she has appeared on numerous podcasts, National Public Radio, and in several documentaries, including Amend, streaming on Netflix. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Library of Congress, Tetrault is also a decorated teacher, who loves discussing and continually honing the craft.
Dr. Lisa Tetrault is an associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University. She specializes in the history of gender, race, and American democracy—with an emphasis on memory and social movements. She is the author of the prize-winning book, The Myth of Seneca Falls: Memory and the Women’s Suffrage Movement, 1848-1898. A frequent commentator on the recently concluded suffrage centennial, Tetrault also served as an historical consultant for Nineteenth Amendment projects launched by the National Constitution, the Schlesinger Library, and Ancestry.com, as well as the documentary, “The Vote” ( PBS’s American Experience). Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, The New York Magazine, USA Today, The New Republic, and more. As a public historian, she has appeared on numerous podcasts, National Public Radio, and in several documentaries, including Amend, streaming on Netflix. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Library of Congress, Tetrault is also a decorated teacher, who loves discussing and continually honing the craft.
Kidada Williams, Wayne State University
Dr. Kidada E. Williams is a writer and historian who researches African American survivors of racist violence. She is the author of I Saw Death Coming, They Left Great Marks on Me, and numerous articles and essays; a co-editor of #CharlestonSyllabus, a crowd-sourced project and book that helped people understand the historical context surrounding the 2015 racist massacre at Emanuel AME Church; and the host of Seizing Freedom, a podcast docudrama that covered the epic story of African Americans' fight for freedom during the Civil War and beyond. She has shared her expertise on survivors of anti-black violence for documentaries like Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s award-winning PBS series, Reconstruction: America after the Civil War; the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture’s book, Make Good the Promises; and podcasts, like Scene on Radio's The Land That Has Never Been Yet, Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes, MSNBC's Into America: Reconstructed, and the Slate Academy history series on Reconstruction. She is an associate professor of History at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Dr. Kidada E. Williams is a writer and historian who researches African American survivors of racist violence. She is the author of I Saw Death Coming, They Left Great Marks on Me, and numerous articles and essays; a co-editor of #CharlestonSyllabus, a crowd-sourced project and book that helped people understand the historical context surrounding the 2015 racist massacre at Emanuel AME Church; and the host of Seizing Freedom, a podcast docudrama that covered the epic story of African Americans' fight for freedom during the Civil War and beyond. She has shared her expertise on survivors of anti-black violence for documentaries like Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s award-winning PBS series, Reconstruction: America after the Civil War; the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture’s book, Make Good the Promises; and podcasts, like Scene on Radio's The Land That Has Never Been Yet, Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes, MSNBC's Into America: Reconstructed, and the Slate Academy history series on Reconstruction. She is an associate professor of History at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Jonathan Zimmerman, New York University
Jonathan Zimmerman is the Berkowitz Professor in Education and Professor of History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. A former Peace Corps volunteer and high school teacher, Zimmerman is the author of Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools and eight other books. Zimmerman is also a frequent oped contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other popular newspapers and magazines. Zimmerman taught for 20 years at New York University, where he received its Distinguished Teaching Award in 2008. Zimmerman's closing talk is tentatively titled, "Education and Democracy in the Progressive Era."
Jonathan Zimmerman is the Berkowitz Professor in Education and Professor of History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. A former Peace Corps volunteer and high school teacher, Zimmerman is the author of Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools and eight other books. Zimmerman is also a frequent oped contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other popular newspapers and magazines. Zimmerman taught for 20 years at New York University, where he received its Distinguished Teaching Award in 2008. Zimmerman's closing talk is tentatively titled, "Education and Democracy in the Progressive Era."
The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
“Rethinking the Gilded Age and Progressivisms: Race, Capitalism, and Democracy, 1877 to 1920” has been made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for K-12 Educators program. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. |
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