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Monday 8am - 4:45pm Tuesday 8am - 4:45pm Wednesday 8am - 4:45pm Thursday 8am - 4:45pm Friday 8am - 5pm

The University of Alabama Department of History

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The University of Alabama Department of History

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**Note** - This page is not monitored 24/7. The University of Alabama welcomes contributions from the community on its official social media pages.

The History Department is a vital part of the research, instructional, and outreach missions of The University of Alabama. User-generated content on UA social media pages does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The University of Alabama, and such content is not screened or approved by UA before it is posted. The University of Alabama abides by Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, and encourages all users to do the same. Further, all users are expected to abide by any and all applicable laws and University of Alabama policies. The University of Alabama reserves the right – but assumes no obligation – to remove any user-generated content that is deemed inappropriate by the standards set by each third-party provider, as well as content that is unlawful, off-topic, repetitive or commercial in nature. User-generated content is not monitored or moderated on a continual basis, but may be removed for the reasons stated here at any time. UA encourages users to utilize tools provided by third-party providers to report inappropriate or offensive content. The University of Alabama appreciates the contributions of all members of its online community, and encourages open discussion and the exchange of ideas in a way that adds value to all users.

11/05/2026

Faculty and Graduate Students listen up! The Bruce and Nora James Visiting Scholar Award for the Study of Nevada Politics and Public Service applications are now open! This $2500 (USD) award supports travel, lodging, and meal expenses for a scholar wishing to explore the vast Nevada-centric political and public service archival collections at the University of Nevada, Reno Special Collections and University Archives Department—currently comprising over 200 collections including the recently opened Harry Reid Papers. The collections touch on state level issues as well as regional and federal topics. The Award is open to both emerging and established scholars.

Recipients are expected to conduct one or more weeks of research onsite at the Special Collections and will be expected to present a virtual presentation about their research in Fall of 2027.

Applications are due November 30, 2026!

To apply and learn more, please visit https://library.unr.edu/places/knowledge-center/special-collections/projects-and-initiatives/james-award

11/04/2026

Did you know that Woods Hall is one of the oldest surviving buildings on the University of Alabama’s campus? After Federal troops burned most of the campus in April 1865, Woods was built using salvaged brick and rubble from the destroyed original buildings. For decades, Woods Hall housed the entire campus: dining halls, classrooms, and military cadet dorms all being held within the walls.

In 1966, the University considered demolishing Woods so they could expand the student center, but the students successfully stopped it with their “Save Woods Hall” movement.

Today, Woods hall houses studios and offices for the college of Art and Art History.

11/03/2026

Help us congratulate Malcolm Cammeron, an Alumnus of our program!
Malcolm earned his M.A. in History from the University of Alabama (alongside his B.A. in Marketing) before completing his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia. He was the first White House Historical Association intern from UA, and this fall, he stepped into his new role as an Assistant Professor of History at Mississippi State University specializing in 19th- and 20th-century U.S. history.
Congratulations, Malcolm! We love seeing the accomplishments of our alumni.

11/02/2026

TODAY! Join us at 4pm for a Book Talk by Dr. Anke Pinkert! Dr. Pinkert will discuss her book Remembering 1989: Future Archives of Public Protest.
Dr. Pinkert is a Professor of German and Cinema & Media Studies, the Head of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, and a recent Director’s Fellow at Humanities Research Institute (HRI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is a co-founder of the Initiative for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies (HGMS) at Illinois. Her research explores historical violence and trauma, visual culture, transnational and post-communist memory, as well as community-based public humanities, and mass incarceration in the United States. She is the author of Film and Memory in East Germany (Indiana University Press, 2008) and Remembering 1989: Future Archives of Public Protest (University of Chicago, 2024).

10/31/2026

👻Did You Know Woods Hall Is Said to Be Haunted?

Nearly 150 years ago, gunfire shattered the morning calm at Woods Hall. Some say the echoes have never completely faded.

On February 22, 1878, University of Alabama cadets William W. Alston and Kibble J. “Todd” Harrison confronted one another on the building’s second-story veranda, in front of what, 60 years later, would become the Department of History’s office (219 Woods Hall), prior to moving into ten Hoor Hall.

Alston and Harrison’s dispute began over insulting remarks about a young woman who was Alston’s cousin. When Harrison refused to apologize, a fight broke out, pistols were drawn, and up to ten shots were fired.
Harrison was wounded twice. Alston was shot through the heart and died within minutes.

Newspapers across Alabama debated what had happened. Some described Harrison as acting in self-defense. Others insisted that Alston did not draw his weapon until after receiving the fatal wound. Campus legend later claimed that the two had engaged in a formal duel on the second story veranda of Woods Hall, with Alston tumbling to his death after receiving his mortal wound.

The surviving evidence, however, makes clear is that this was not a carefully staged duel. It was a sudden, chaotic, and deadly encounter between two armed students. Harrison was arrested soon after and, later that year, tried for murder. The Tuscaloosa County jury, however, found that Harrison had acted in self-defense and acquitted him.

The tragedy soon passed into campus legend. Despite tales that Alston had tumble from the veranda to his death on Woods Quad in dramatic fashion, contemporary testimony indicates that a nearby cadet caught him and laid him down upon the veranda, where he died. In later retellings, his restless spirit remained behind.

Today, Woods Hall and Woods Quad are associated with reports of unexplained cold spots, the odor of gunpowder, phantom gunshots and a figure pacing the upper veranda. The stories cannot be proven, but they have made Woods Hall one of the best-known “haunted” places on campus.

This Halloween, look up when you pass Woods Hall after dark.

Someone may be watching from the veranda.

10/27/2026

How do historians recover lives that appear only in fragments within the archive?
Join Jennifer L. Morgan of NYU and Marisa J. Fuentes of Rutgers for “Writing Histories of Slavery: Sources, Methods, and Interpretations,” a conversation about archival evidence, historical methods, and the challenges of interpreting the history of slavery. Their influential scholarship includes Morgan’s Reckoning with Slavery and Fuentes’s Dispossessed Lives.
📅 Thursday, Nov. 12
🕔 Reception at 5 p.m.; conversation at 5:30 p.m.
📍 Gorgas Library, Camellia Room
For more information: [email protected]

10/26/2026

📖Join us on Monday, November 2nd at 4pm for a Book Talk by Dr. Anke Pinkert! Dr. Pinkert will discuss her book Remembering 1989: Future Archives of Public Protest.

Dr. Pinkert is a Professor of German and Cinema & Media Studies, the Head of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, and a recent Director’s Fellow at Humanities Research Institute (HRI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is a co-founder of the Initiative for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies (HGMS) at Illinois. Her research explores historical violence and trauma, visual culture, transnational and post-communist memory, as well as community-based public humanities, and mass incarceration in the United States. She is the author of Film and Memory in East Germany (Indiana University Press, 2008) and Remembering 1989: Future Archives of Public Protest (University of Chicago, 2024).

10/23/2026

🏈Come join us for the History Tailgate on October 24th at 10:30 AM! We'll have catered food and are located near Bidgood Hall on the Quad. See you there and Roll Tide!🐘❤

10/23/2026

A recap of an incredible evening with Dr. Darragh Gannon from Georgetown University for the Irish-America 250 lecture!
He broke down the deep historical ties between Ireland and America by exploring 6 influential lives that shaped the relationship, from nation-building and politics to fashion and music. Thank you Dr. Gannon for the amazing lecture!🇮🇪

10/21/2026

This Evening!!
In conjunction with Capstone International, the UA Department of History will be hosting a visit from Sarah Kavanagh, Consul General of Ireland in Miami, and Dr. Darragh Gannon, Associate Director of Global Irish Studies at Georgetown University! Dr. Gannon will give the lecture, "Irish-America 250: The Revolutionary Lives and Legacies of the Irish in America," with a Q&A session by Dr. Matthew Lockwood, and a reception to follow. The lecture is open to faculty, staff, students of all levels, and members of the Tuscaloosa community. It will be held at 6:00pm in Ten Hoor room 30, hope to see you all there!

Address

Box 870212
Tuscaloosa, AL
35487

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 4:45pm
Tuesday	8am - 4:45pm
Wednesday	8am - 4:45pm
Thursday	8am - 4:45pm
Friday	8am - 5pm

Telephone

+12053487100

Website

http://history.ua.edu/, https://history.ua.edu/prosecuting-the-16th-street-baptist-church-bombers/

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