1356 Campus Drive, East Campus, 224 Classroom Bldg., Box 90719, Durham, NC  27708-0719 | (919) 684-3014 | history.duke.edu                                       vol. 7, Dec. 2025

Highlighting the accomplishments of our faculty, graduate students, and alumni, as well as events and other noteworthy topics.  Suggestions and submissions are welcome at history@duke.edu.  Submission is no guarantee of inclusion.

"The remarkable story of South African medical pioneers who transformed community health in the American South and beyond."  Karin Shapiro completed her film, A Road Out, in May 2025.  The documentary examines a group of progressive health practitioners who came to North Carolina from apartheid South Africa, bringing ideas they developed in rural KwaZulu-Natal and that would transform social epidemiology and public health practices in the American South and beyond. A Road Out has screened at mutiple festivals, including the Toronto Women's Film Festival, where it won the “Best Historical Documentary” prize.  Read the Trinity Communications article here.

Tamika Nunley Wins 2025 Journal of Women's History Article Prize

Mélanie Lamotte Wins French Colonial Historical Society’s Best Article Prize 

Thavolia Glymph Wins 2025 Distinguished Service to Labor and Working-Class History Award 

Duke Center for Documentary Studies (CDS), in collaboration with the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts in New Delhi, is hosting Disobedient Subjects: Bombay 1930–31, an exhibition of 55 photographs that transport viewers to the heart of India’s Civil Disobedience Movement against British colonial rule. The project, recently featured on BBC News, is accompanied by the publication of a scholarly volume titled Photographing Civil Disobedience: Bombay 1930–1931, edited by Avrati Bhatnagar and Sumathi Ramaswamy, exhibit co-curators.

Sarah Balakrishnan has a new article, “Colonizing Accra: Experiments in Storytelling,” in The American Historical Review (2025). This article studies three consequential events that occurred between 1886 and 1888 in Accra, which resulted in Accra’s colonization, but which remain virtually unknown in the history of Ghana. In December, Sarah was awarded the Carol Gold Award for Distinguished Research by a Woman Historian for her 2024 Journal of Urban History article, “Archives in Stone: Cemeteries, Burial and Urban Ownership in Late Colonial Ghana.” 

In addition to the prize above and the National Geographic Pirates: Behind the Legend documentary (streaming on Disney+) mentioned in the last newsletter, Mélanie Lamotte was also featured in two french language documentaries from the French-German channel Arte: Le Sucre (Sugar) will eventually be translated into multiple languages and air on PBS, and Ce que l'intelligence artificielle ne peut pas faire (What Artificial Intelligence Cannot Do), on History and the use of AI.  Finally, her new book, By Flesh and Toil: How Sex, Race, and Labor Shaped the Early French Empire, is "a richly detailed transoceanic history of the early French Empire, illuminating how it became bound by a common legal culture of race—as well as how enslaved and free people critically shaped the development of the colonies."  It is set for an early 2026 release from Harvard University Press.

Along with his Brazilian and U.S. co-authors, John D. French (History and AAAS) has signed a contract in November with the prestigious Law and Society series of Cambridge University Press to publish the book, which emerged  from a five year binational  interdisciplinary collaboration, entitled Ruling Racial Quotas Constitutional in Brazil: How Black Movements Achieved a Resounding and Enduring Affirmative Action Victory in the Supreme Court and Legislature.

We're very pleased to announce the formal December 3 dedication of Raymond Gavins Commons, formerly known to many of you as simply "The Fishbowl."  Just a few short days ago, we hosted a reception to honor Dr. Blair LM Kelley, one of Dr. Gavins' former students.  A distinguished scholar and leader in her own right, Kelley assumed leadership of the National Humanities Center as its seventh president and director in July 2025.  She most recently served as the Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was also director of the Center for the Study of the American South and co-director of Southern Futures.  The greatest tribute to Ray Gavins is surely a celebration of his legacy and continuing impact on individuals and communities, our understanding of the stories and shared histories that define them, and the impulse to work toward positive change, all of which are so clearly reflected in Dr. Kelley's professional record and personal history.

Locopops on the Lawn!  At the start  of the fall term, we held an outdoor information session for students who might not otherwise encounter our oh-so-charming faculty.  We managed to draw many students on their way to and from the East-West shuttle bus (maaaaybe that had something to do with the Locopops) and tell them about some of our upcoming courses and opportunities.  A spontaneous history trivia contest broke out, and fun was had by all!

On November 13, we took some time to celebrate the many books published in the last few years by our primary, secondary, and emeritus faculty members.  The groundbreaking research and monumental effort and time such works require is extraordinary, but is too often overlooked as just a necessary "side hustle" of academia.  Recognition is due!  See the book list here.

In September, Sarah Balakrishnan and Justin Leroy launched the Atlantic Worlds Workshop, co-funded by the Duke History Department, the Africa Initiative and the Franklin Humanities Institute. The Atlantic Workshop brings together graduate students and faculty from across the Research Triangle to critique new papers written by scholars pushing forward the field of Atlantic history and slavery studies. Fall guests included Jennifer Morgan from NYU, Mary Hicks from the University of Chicago, Ebony Jones from North Carolina State University, Lisa Lindsay from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and Adom Getachew from the University of Chicago. Each workshop was attended by between thirty and fifty students and faculty. Sarah and Justin look forward to welcoming more scholars and students at the Atlantic Worlds Workshop in the Spring semester. 

Lewis Raven Wallace has just released his second book of nonfiction, Radical Unlearning: The Art and Science of Creating Change from Within (Beacon Press, 10/25).  In addition to his work as a history graduate student, Wallace is an award-winning independent journalist, and a cofounder of Press On, a Southern collective supporting journalism for liberation. His 2019 book and podcast, The View from Somewhere (University of Chicago Press), focus on undoing the myth of “objectivity” in journalism and uplifting stories of marginalized journalists. He previously worked for public radio’s Marketplace, WYSO, and WBEZ. He is white and transgender, and was born and raised in the Midwest with deep roots in the South. In addition to the hardcover and ebook formats, Radical Unlearning is also available as an audiobook, read by the author.

Ashley Rose Young's (MA '13, PhD '17) first book, Nourishing Networks: The Public Culture of Food in New Orleans, was published in October with Oxford University Press. Since completing her degree, Ashley served as the Historian of the Smithsonian Food History Project at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History but has recently begun a new role as American History Curator in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress.

Duke Libraries awarded their 2025 Chester P. Middlesworth Award, "recognizing excellence of analysis, research, and writing in the use of primary sources and rare materials held by the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library," to senior Megan Corey (BA '25... a shiny new alumna!) for Best Undergraduate Honors Thesis.  We're not surprised; her “Custodians of the Color Line: Dallas Walton Newsom and the Black Janitors at Trinity College, 1850-1930" won both of the History department's thesis prizes as well.

Renee Goldthree (PhD '11) was recently promoted to Associate Professor of African American Studies (with tenure) at Princeton University. Her first book, Democracy’s Foot Soldiers: World War I and the Politics of Empire in the Greater Caribbean, was published by Princeton University Press earlier this month.

Tayzhaun Glover (PhD '25) accepted a tenure-track position in the History department at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  He began his professional life in the fall as an Assistant Professor.

Anderson Hagler's (PhD '22) book, Sins of Excess: The Spatial Politics of Idolatry and Magic in Colonial Mexico, was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in June 2025. Anderson is assistant professor of World Religions and Cultures at Western Michigan University.

In April, Ketaki Pant (PhD '15) published Itinerant Belonging: Intimate Histories of Indian Ocean Capitalism with Cambridge University Press, as part of their Oceanic Histories collection.  Ketaki is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Southern California.

Michael Stauch’s (PhD '15) book, Wildcat of the Streets: Detroit in the Age of Community Policing, was released by University of Pennsylvania Press in August. Michael is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Toledo.

David Romine (PhD '18) published Something to Do with Power: Julian Mayfield's Journey Toward a Black Radical Thought, 1948-1984 with UNC Press in June.  The volume is included in The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture.  David is lecturer of history at Winston-Salem State University.

Travis Knoll (PhD, '22) and four other co-authors have secured a contract for their manuscript, Ruling Racial Quotas Constitutional in Brazil: The Black Movements' Resounding Affirmative Action Victories in the Supreme Court and Legislature, with Cambridge University Press's Studies in Law and Society. Additionally, Knoll attended COP30 in Belem, Brazil as an accredited delegate. There, in addition to following community activists and climate investing initiatives, he presented  on community solar financing models at a TED Countdown House event hosted by CrossBoundary Group, a development finance and renewable energy development firm.

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