History Department

Interested in a class on conspiracy theories?

C-Span captured Professor Kathryn Olmsted's lecture on the "Red Scare" of the 1940's and 50's and how it evolved into a wide-ranging conspiracy theory.

Watch the lecture here.

In honor of Black History Month, read Professor Diana Davis' article "Decolonizing Veterinary History?" about the first South African veterinarian, Dr. Jotello Soga. 

Davis highlights his important work in combatting rinderpest, an infectious viral disease of cattle.

Read the article here.

UC Davis historians have made the stories of the roles women played in shaping the landscape accessible to historians, park employees, resource centers and the general public for sites in the Pacific and Western United States, where the national parks began.

Congratulations to Professor Howard Chiang, whose book, Transtopia in the Sinophone Pacific, is shortlisted for the 2022 Lammy Award in LGBTQ Studies by the Lambda Literary Foundation!

See all the finalists here.

Professor Greg Downs writes about how the city can engage constructively and democratically with the country's history in their attempt at renaming schools.

Read the Op-Ed here.

Professor Stacy Fahrenthold's article, "Ladies Aid as Labor History," has just been published in the November 2021 issue of the Journal of Middle East Women's Studies. The article examines mutual aid organizations among Syrian immigrant women in Boston.

Check out the article here!

The Association of American Publishers awarded Professor Charles Walker and Liz Clarke the Nonfiction Graphic Novels award for their work, "Witness to the Age of Revolution: The Odyssey of Juan Bautista Tupac Amaru."

Read the write-up here!

Professor Downs was recently featured in the NYT discussing Donald Trump's inaccurate claim about Robert E. Lee's postwar life.

Read the article here.

Professor Greg Dows appears in NYT Article discussing the many historians who gathered at Civil War sites throughout the country

Professor Greg Downs and dozens of other historians from around the country recently traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the 158th anniversary of Lincoln's issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The historians sought to highlight distortions of Black contributions in the battle over the Civil War's legacy.

Professor Olmsted writes about the upcoming California recall election and the history of the recall process in California.

Read the New York Times op-ed here.