History

Sounding the Alarm

Racial discrimination is not only a matter of sight — sound can also be racialized. Petal Samuel’s research traces colonial bans on drums and horns included in slave codes to modern-day noise abatement efforts in black communities.

Emily Hynes

Emily Hynes is a PhD student in the Department of Music within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She studies women who made music within prisons of the American South from the 1930s to '40s and creates interactive digital maps to convey this information.

Unearthing Environmental Research

Environmental education and research have deep roots at Carolina, but a lot has changed since the natural sciences came to campus almost 200 years ago. From the creation of a sanitary engineering department to relationships stoked by the internet, environmental study at UNC has evolved into a hotbed of research, education, and community outreach.

To Conquer the World

In the earth’s long history of rulers and warriors, few stand as tall as Alexander the Great. A Macedonian king who built an enormous empire across the Middle East and Asia in 11 years, Alexander was a man known for his strategic cunning. But in historian Fred Naiden’s groundbreaking work on Alexander’s role as a religious leader, he shines a new light on the ancient conqueror’s rise to the top.

A History Suppressed

A dark time in our nation’s history, the period between the end of post-Civil War Reconstruction and 1950 saw thousands of African Americans murdered via lynching – predominantly in the South. Two UNC professors hope to honor these individuals by uncovering injustices that, for decades, have been systematically erased from public memory.

One Foot in Front of the Other

From summertime strolling to political marching, the act of walking has greatly influenced social practices for hundreds of years. UNC historian Chad Bryant discusses these topics in a new book, “Walking Histories: 1800-1914.”

Proving Innocence: Lessons from The Wilmington Ten

In 1971, as civil rights battles raged across the South, 10 young men and women fought for fair treatment within Wilmington, North Carolina’s newly desegregated schools. UNC historian Kenneth Janken shares their story in his new book, “The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s.”

Getting to Know the American Presidents

Emeritus UNC College of Arts & Sciences history professor William Leuchtenburg talks his new book, 20th-century presidents, and the personal experiences that shaped his understanding of them.