Year of the riot: Harlem, 1935. Using a website to reconstruct Harlem and map the events of the 1935 riot, this project reveals the dynamics of the first instance of a new kind of racial violence-against police and property rather than between blacks and whites-and the impact of the Depression on African Americans.
Black America and the Korean War: Race, War, and Desegregation. This project aims to provide the first detailed analysis of African Americans in the Korean War. In so doing it will generate new knowledge on the Korean War, the African American military experience, the Black struggle for civil rights, and the complex relationship between race and US foreign policy. Along with a deeper understanding of a conflict that has been overshadowed in popular memory by World War 2 and the Vietnam War, but ....Black America and the Korean War: Race, War, and Desegregation. This project aims to provide the first detailed analysis of African Americans in the Korean War. In so doing it will generate new knowledge on the Korean War, the African American military experience, the Black struggle for civil rights, and the complex relationship between race and US foreign policy. Along with a deeper understanding of a conflict that has been overshadowed in popular memory by World War 2 and the Vietnam War, but which remains a source of international tension, expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of the intersection between the African American military experience and US international power. These outcomes will be disseminated via a scholarly monograph, journal articles, and a popular, non-scholarly book. Read moreRead less
War stories and the meaning of the American Revolution. This project aims to understand the role of memory and war in nation-making, particularly in the founding of the United States. The American Revolution defined the American nation. The common view of it is dominated by images of patriotic citizens rising up together against the yoke of British tyranny to establish a democracy. However, it was also a protracted, divisive and bloody War for Independence and many contemporaries called it a civ ....War stories and the meaning of the American Revolution. This project aims to understand the role of memory and war in nation-making, particularly in the founding of the United States. The American Revolution defined the American nation. The common view of it is dominated by images of patriotic citizens rising up together against the yoke of British tyranny to establish a democracy. However, it was also a protracted, divisive and bloody War for Independence and many contemporaries called it a civil war. This project will examine the neglected memoirs of ordinary Americans in the early republic. Understanding how participants made sense of this conflict can show how war, memory and history create nations and sustain and enrich citizenship in democracies.Read moreRead less
The revolution in Black American life: memory and history in the making of African America. The American Revolution has shaped the United States and the world in which we now live in profound ways. Understanding how that event has been remembered, commemorated and invoked by successive generations of African-Americans is critical in comprehending the role of memory and history in the business of nation-making, citizenship and democracy.
Child Soldiers: Militarism and American Youth. Today, the term 'child soldier' evokes images of youths brutally coerced into fighting wars in the developing world. Yet until recently, children aged seven to seventeen made up a significant portion of the American military. Masses of children also joined organisations or schools structured along military lines. This project is expected to provide the first examination of the relationship between childhood and militarism across United States histor ....Child Soldiers: Militarism and American Youth. Today, the term 'child soldier' evokes images of youths brutally coerced into fighting wars in the developing world. Yet until recently, children aged seven to seventeen made up a significant portion of the American military. Masses of children also joined organisations or schools structured along military lines. This project is expected to provide the first examination of the relationship between childhood and militarism across United States history. Exploring debates over the militarisation of childhood, as well as the experiences of child soldiers themselves, it aims to reveal how changing understandings of childhood intersected with evolving attitudes toward America as a military nation.Read moreRead less
Black Americans and the Pacific War: African-American encounters with the South Pacific, 1941-1945. This project explores African Americans' experiences in the Pacific War. By placing Black Americans' experiences in a racially segregated military culture in the context of European colonisation of the Pacific, it will cast new light on issues of racial and national identity in a region of continuing significance to the United States and Australia.
Black business in New York: The first century of freedom. This project aims to recover the forgotten history of black business in New York City in the century after slavery’s end in 1827. Drawing on neglected archives and the Digital Harlem website, the project will focus on hitherto ignored facets of urban African American life, recasting that past in fundamental ways. The project is expected to offer original insights into race in America, teasing out this history, , and contributing also to t ....Black business in New York: The first century of freedom. This project aims to recover the forgotten history of black business in New York City in the century after slavery’s end in 1827. Drawing on neglected archives and the Digital Harlem website, the project will focus on hitherto ignored facets of urban African American life, recasting that past in fundamental ways. The project is expected to offer original insights into race in America, teasing out this history, , and contributing also to the long-running public debate about racial inequality.Read moreRead less
The Prince of Darkness: Wall Street's first black millionaire. Although totally forgotten now, Jeremiah Hamilton (1810-1875) was Wall Street's first African-American millionaire. Restoring him to his rightful place as a black pioneer will afford a unique and revealing perspective not just on urban black life, but also on the business world at the very heart of New York City itself.
Enduring is the Perfection: State Formation and Socio-Cultural Change in the First Capital of Ancient Egypt (c.3200 to 1069 BCE). This is an unprecedented and systematic investigation of the Egyptian state and its extraordinarily rich society and culture over 2,000 years. It will impact profoundly on the disciplines of World History and Egyptology, confirm Australia as a world leader in ancient Mediterranean studies, and provide exciting new opportunities for academic and cultural exchanges betw ....Enduring is the Perfection: State Formation and Socio-Cultural Change in the First Capital of Ancient Egypt (c.3200 to 1069 BCE). This is an unprecedented and systematic investigation of the Egyptian state and its extraordinarily rich society and culture over 2,000 years. It will impact profoundly on the disciplines of World History and Egyptology, confirm Australia as a world leader in ancient Mediterranean studies, and provide exciting new opportunities for academic and cultural exchanges between our country and the Middle East. By making a major contribution to preserving, interpreting and explaining Egypt's magnificent but imperilled heritage, it will significantly enhance Australia's image there and underwrite our country's strategic and commercial relations with our most important partner in the Arab world. Read moreRead less
'Ordinary Writings': lower-class writing practices in the transition to mass literacy in Europe, 1800-1918. This project contributes to public debate on literacy and literacy standards. Its historical perspective offers an antidote to conventional wisdom. It will show that there is no clear separation between literacy and illiteracy, that levels of literary competence vary according to specific occasions and specific tasks, and that schooling is not necessary for literacy acquisition. It will he ....'Ordinary Writings': lower-class writing practices in the transition to mass literacy in Europe, 1800-1918. This project contributes to public debate on literacy and literacy standards. Its historical perspective offers an antidote to conventional wisdom. It will show that there is no clear separation between literacy and illiteracy, that levels of literary competence vary according to specific occasions and specific tasks, and that schooling is not necessary for literacy acquisition. It will help put Australian research in the international forefront of cultural history. It will show that written heritage deserves full recognition in all its aspects, not just as the expression of educated elites. This aspect of our written patrimony needs re-evaluation, and we need to improve preservation of it and accessibility to it.Read moreRead less