Department of History

Ross Reynolds talks with UW historian Trevor Griffey about Seattle's role in protests that led to the early formation of affirmative action.

History gives expression to the time and place in which the historian is writing. It gets rewritten each generation, with the past determined by the present, says Prof. Ken Pyle.

History suggests that Tacloban and other severely damaged communities will eventually recover, says Vicente Rafael, a professor specializing in Southeast Asian history at the University of Washington.

The hard-hit Philippines coastal city of Tacloban may now be known for grim images of devastation and shattered lives caused by Typhoon Haiyan. But before the storm hit, the city was a thriving commercial center with a colorful and proud history, says prof. Vicente Rafael.

The UW history department will review America's history of slavery from four different angles in its annual lecture series, which begins on Oct. 23.

A set of letters dating back to the 1940s led Devin Naar to study the history of Sephardic Jews. Now he heads the UW's Sephardic Studies Initiative and oversees an archive of Sephardic materials that is among the nation's largest.

The UW Tel Dor Archeological Excavation and Field School - whose students in 2009 unearthed a rare gemstone with the image of Alexander the Great - has completed another summer's excavation work.

Rich Peruvians in the city of Lima request black pallbearers at their funerals. UW history professor Adam Warren explains why.

University of Washington doctoral candidate Maria Quintana (History) and alumnus Samuel Anderson (Anthropology, '00) are among the Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellows for 2013, awarded each year by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Richard Kirkendall is a University of Washington professor emeritus of history and editor of the new book, "Civil Liberties and the Legacy of Harry S. Truman." He answers a few questions about the book for UW Today.

UW History Professor Jordanna Bailkin discusses her new book "The Afterlife of Empire."

A&S alumni and siblings Gary and Carver Gayton have led extraordinary lives, following in the footsteps of their great grandfather Lewis Clarke, who escaped slavery to become a well-known abolitionist.

Jim Riswold (1983), whose hugely popular ad campaigns for Nike and other top clients featured household names like Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny, was recently inducted into advertising's Creative Hall of Fame.

It began as a modest resource to address students' frequently asked questions, but Professor Quintard Taylor's BlackPast.org website now attracts 2.8 million visitors a year with its trusted information about African American history.

The current financial crisis has renewed interest in the Great Depression, so a UW history professor has created a website about the period and the School of Drama has scheduled staged readings of two Depression-era plays.