Brandenberger appointed
David Brandenberger, professor of history and global studies, was appointed Samuel Chiles Mitchell-Jacob Billikopf Professor of History and Global Studies.
Why does studying LGBT history matter?
In an era of "don't say gay" laws, Dr. Pippa Holloway, Cornerstones Chair in History, believes in the relevance and importance of teaching LGBT history to students for what they learn about courts, the Constitution, civil rights, and America as a whole.
Learn more about Fall 2026 course offerings.
Announcements:
You can now find The History Department on Instagram. Follow @urhistory__ (two underscores) to learn more about events, classes, and additional announcements!
History Department Lecture
“Only Murders in the Building: Archival Crimes and The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts"
Tuesday, Sept. 22 | Lecture at 5:30pm | Brown Alley Room in Weinstein Hall
Like a crime scene, the archives speak their violence. In this talk, Dr. Gregg Hecimovich will demonstrate the forensic sleuthing he used to discover the identity of Hannah Crafts, the first Black woman to write a novel. As we will discuss, the archive is full of bloody secrets. But crimes can be repaired with care. In 2023, Dr. Hecimovich cracked the case of Hannah Crafts, the mysterious author whose novel The Bondwoman’s Narrative became a New York Times Best Seller. His new work The Columbia Seven (Simon and Schuster, 2027) discovers the lives behind some of the most controversial photographs of the nineteenth century. Hecimovich will show how to mend the archive so that we can continue to repair lives otherwise lost to us.
This lecture will be given by Dr. Gregg Hecimovich. Dr. Hecimovich is a professor of English at Furman University and a literary historian who works at the seam where biography, the archive, and lost voices meet. His writing reconstructs lives the historical record tried to erase.
His The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts (Ecco, 2023) solved one of the enduring mysteries of American literature and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His current book, The Columbia Seven, extends that method to seven enslaved people photographed by Joseph T. Zealy in 1850, and is supported by a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship.
2026-2027 Society of the Cincinnati Lecture
"George Washington and Frederick the Great - A Timely Comparison: Two different ways of looking at the Enlightenment"
Tuesday, Sept. 1st | Reception at 5pm, Lecture at 6pm | Brown Alley Room
George Washington and Frederick the Great were two of the most significant and influential figures of the 18th century. They admired each other as military leaders, but their political views differed sharply. Washington characterized the Prussian king as an absolutist tyrant, while the first American president saw himself as a champion of federalism, parliamentarianism and the separation of powers. At a time when liberal democracy is being challenged by authoritarian conceptions of the state, examining competing constitutional models from the Age of Enlightenment can provide valuable guidance and orientation. Reflecting upon the parallell lives of Washington and Frederick the Great is therefore a timely comparison.
This lecture will be given by Dr. Jürgen Overhoff. Dr. Overhoff is professor of the history of education at the Universität Münster. He served as president of the German Society for Eighteenth Century Studies and is an internationally acknowledged expert on the transatlantic Enlightenment. He has published monographs on Thomas Hobbes, Benjamin Franklin as well as a double biography of George Washington and Frederick the Great.
Faculty Highlights
Kahn wins Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize
Michelle Kahn, associate professor of history, won the Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize for her book Foreign in Two Homelands: Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History.
Holloway testifies as expert witness in disfranchisement case
Pippa Holloway, Cornerstones Chair in History, testified as an expert witness in a special three judge panel trial court in the Shelby County (Tennessee) Circuit Court. The case, Moses v. Goins et al., challenges a law that permanently disfranchises Tennessee citizens following a felony conviction. Holloway presented historical testimony that included a historical analysis of the Free and Equal Elections clause of the Tennessee Constitution, which requires conviction by a jury before a person otherwise entitled to vote could be denied suffrage on the basis of a criminal conviction.
McCommons publishes on the Black Appalachian Commission
Jillean McCommons, assistant professor of history and Africana studies, published "From Their Double Minority Position": Black Women's Leadership, Black Feminist Thought, and the Black Appalachian Commission, 1969-1975" in the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society.
Upcoming Events
History Feature Stories
UR Now: STUDENT EXPERIENCE
University of Richmond students are doing summer research around the globe
Meet two of them. Julia Guss is studying the emergence of Berlin’s techno scene in the 1990s, while Liam Gunawardena explores public safety in Sydney.
University of Richmond President Emeritus Ed Ayers Appointed to State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
Ayers will fill SCHEV’s newly established seat representing Virginia’s nonprofit private colleges and serve as a dedicated representative for independent colleges and universities.
UR Now: UNIVERSITY NEWS
Four recent University of Richmond graduates receive prestigious Fulbright grants
Young alums will advance their education and careers in countries around the world.
Student Scholars
Four Recent University of Richmond Graduates Receive Fulbright Grants
Four University of Richmond graduates have accepted Fulbright grants for the 2026–27 academic year.
History Faculty in the News
The Anarchy: The Real Civil War That Inspired ‘House of the Dragon’
History professor David Routt, a medieval historian, is quoted.
Don't leave faculty out of Virginia's collective bargaining bill | Guest column
History professor Pippa Holloway co-authored this piece.
Trump Says He Is the ‘Least Racist’ President. But His Term Echoes a Grim Past.
History professor Eric Yellin, an expert on Woodrow Wilson, is quoted.
Germany’s plan to deport Syrian refugees echoes 1980s effort to repatriate Turkish guest workers
History professor Michelle Lynn Kahn authored this piece.
Contact Us
Mailing address:
History Department
Humanities Building
106 UR Drive
University of Richmond, VA 23173
Phone: (804) 287-6041
Fax: (804) 287-1992
Department Chair: Dr. Pippa Holloway
Academic Administrative Coordinator: Catherine Hash