Brown History Department

Collaborative project yields new digital archive on hidden history of Indigenous enslavement Stolen Relations, a public database set to launch on Saturday, May 10, reveals the stories of thousands of Native people forced into servitude across the Americas.

Collaborative project yields new digital archive on hidden history of Indigenous enslavement — 'News from Brown' reports on Stolen Relations, a public database that reveals the stories of thousands of Native people forced into servitude across the Americas.

A fleeting look at July on the East Side📍

Will Politics Derail America’s 250th Birthday Bash?

Will politics derail America's 250th birthday bash? — @kawulf.bsky.social provides commentary in @nytimes.com, stating: “The Bicentennial was both an experience and a legacy. I worry that 2026, despite a lot of anticipation, might not be either.” Read the full piece:

Opinion | It Isn’t Freedom if It’s Not for Everyone

It isn't free if it's not for everyone — Class of 2025 graduate Sofia Barnett, who accompanied journalist Nicholas Kristof on a global reporting trip, penned this column for @nytimes.com on feminism and global women's issues.

Bill Siemering & Public Radio In Democracy Bill Siemering, NPR’s first program director and the author of its inspiring mission statement, recounts the network’s early goal of honoring diversity by including a variety of American voices. Also,...

Bill Siemering and public radio in democracy — In this Prairie Public Radio segment, Professor Emeritus of History Gordon Wood discusses how America’s 18th century founders emphasized the importance of a free press and an educated citizenry.

Talking Points - Lakota Times Drawing by the CAIRNS director to illustrate his 1999 conceptual design of the three permanent galleries for the National Museum of the American Indian. March 3, 2025. Last week, the CAIRNS director w...

Talking points — This Lakota Times article highlights the collaborations between Associate Professor of History Lukas Rieppel and Craig Howe, director of the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies. Read more: lakotatimes.com/articles/talking-points/

Opinion | I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.

I’m a genocide scholar. I know it when I see it. — Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies @omerbartov.bsky.social penned this guest essay for @nytimes.com about the conflict in Gaza.

Summer blooms at the Urban Environmental Laboratory, just down the street from Peter Green House📍🌼

Newsletters Download PDFs of each yearly edition of our departmental newsletter, History Matters.

History Matters, Volume 39 is here! Inside our annual newsletter you’ll find faculty updates; testimony from the students who revamped and reintroduced the Brown Journal of History (BJH); a series of exploration articles; a highlight on the Brown-HBCU History Collaboration Grant — and much more.

Happy to be among such an amazing group of 2024 books!

Huzzah! Exciting to see it out in the world!

Opinion | It Isn’t Freedom if It’s Not for Everyone

It isn't free if it's not for everyone — Class of 2025 graduate Sofia Barnett, who accompanied journalist Nicholas Kristof on a global reporting trip, penned this column for @nytimes.com on feminism and global women's issues.

Will Politics Derail America’s 250th Birthday Bash?

Will politics derail America's 250th birthday bash? — @kawulf.bsky.social provides commentary in @nytimes.com, stating: “The Bicentennial was both an experience and a legacy. I worry that 2026, despite a lot of anticipation, might not be either.” Read the full piece:

Talking points — This Lakota Times article highlights the collaborations between Associate Professor of History Lukas Rieppel and Craig Howe, director of the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies. Read more: lakotatimes.com/articles/talking-points/

Poster for Lineage at Symposium Books 240 Westminster St in Providence. July 12 at 4. Pictures of Karin and Morgan, and the book cover.

It begins! Have already enjoyed talking about _Lineage_ with a few groups in Philly (twice!) and here in RI, but this month I'm headed to several venues. Starting close to home, and in conversation w the wonderful Morgan Grefe, Exec Director of the Rhode Island Historical Society.

I'm doing an AMA on @askhistorians.bsky.social this morning about genealogy in early America, and genealogy as a historical subject generally. So fun! Thanks for inviting me, @dhowlett1692.bsky.social! Also, these Reddit folks are early birds like me. 😃🦜🌞

The Social Drama of Daily Work Part manifesto, part manual, this book offers historians of all levels both subject and approach. The subject is work. In every place-time people made and sold objects – and struggled with annoying cu...

Labor historians: take a look at Sarah Schneewind's _Social Drama of Daily Work_. The book poses 100s of questions to ask about workers doing any possible number of things. Useful stuff about expertise and authority, laborers' ability to manage-up, and tacit codes that organize all work sites.

There are books. Somehow despite so many years of work I wasn’t quite prepared for actual books?!

Official pub next week. More coherence inc thanks for v lovely advance praise soon.

Sofia Barnett '25 Returns from West Africa

In early June, Sofia Barnett '25 traveled with @nickkristof.bsky.social to Freetown, Sierra Leone. While in transit, Sofia kept a journal to document her experiences and sights seen along the way. Explore one of her entries here:

Newsletters Download PDFs of each yearly edition of our departmental newsletter, History Matters.

History Matters, Volume 39 is here! Inside our annual newsletter you’ll find faculty updates; testimony from the students who revamped and reintroduced the Brown Journal of History (BJH); a series of exploration articles; a highlight on the Brown-HBCU History Collaboration Grant — and much more.

Stolen Relations: Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas Stolen Relations seeks to recover stories of Indigenous slavery in the Americas. The website has a database as well as a map, timeline, interviews, and curricular materials.

(1/3) Stolen Relations has been launched for a month! Thanks to the hard work of hundreds of partners and researchers, stolenrelations.org currently has records of upwards of 7,000 individuals and many pieces of art and storytelling that help to flesh out the stories of unfree Indigenous people.

Opinion | This Problem Is Easy to Solve

This problem is easy to solve — This opinion essay from @nytimes.com notes that Class of 2025 graduate and history concentrator Sofia Barnett is the winner of columnist Nicholas Kristof's 2025 win-a-trip contest; they are currently in West Africa.

The history behind Brown historian’s Pulitzer finalist ‘Plantation Goods’ Inspired by his scholarship and teaching at Brown, Seth Rockman uncovered an unknown facet of pre-Civil War history that he detailed in an acclaimed book.

The history behind Brown historian’s Pulitzer finalist ‘Plantation Goods’ — Inspired by his scholarship and teaching at Brown, @sethrockman.bsky.social uncovered an unknown facet of pre-Civil War history that he detailed in an acclaimed book.

The Philip Taft Labor History Prize committee has announced that Seth Rockman's book, "Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery" (@uchicagopress.bsky.social‬) is the winner of the 2025 Taft Labor History Prize. Congratulations, @sethrockman.bsky.social! Learn more: bit.ly/44bHvPs

Sotheby's to auction a Ceratosaurus, with millions and more on the line — Lukas Rieppel offers commentary on the unpredictability of commercial dinosaur sales in this @nytimes.com article.

A debate as old as the country itself: When did the Revolution truly begin? - The Boston Globe Was 1775 really the main pivot point in the fight for independence? 1760? 1607? The Founders themselves weren’t sure.

A debate as old as the country itself: When did the Revolution truly begin? — Gordon S. Wood, a professor of history emeritus, penned this column for @bostonglobe.com.

Professor of History Ethan Pollock named Brown University’s new dean of the College An accomplished historian and academic leader, Pollock looks forward to guiding and strengthening the academic experience for more than 7,200 undergraduates.

Ethan Pollock, a distinguished faculty member and academic leader with nearly 20 years of service to Brown, will become the new dean of the College, effective July 1. A professor of history and Slavic studies, Pollock has served as chair of the history department since 2020.

Commencement photos are in and we are enjoying a nostalgic look back on the best weekend. 🎓 #Brown2025

Thinking Allowed - Objects and Stories - BBC Sounds How objects like shoes and watches help tell the history of slavery and wartime atrocities

Thanks to host Laurie Taylor and producer Jayne Egerton for having me on BBC's "Thinking Aloud" to talk about *Plantation Goods* from @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Newsletters Download PDFs of each yearly edition of our departmental newsletter, History Matters.

History Matters, Volume 39 is here! Inside our annual newsletter you’ll find faculty updates; testimony from the students who revamped and reintroduced the Brown Journal of History (BJH); a series of exploration articles; a highlight on the Brown-HBCU History Collaboration Grant — and much more.