The U of A's Department of History is pleased to announce the publication of the 2024 issue of The Ozark Historical Review.

Now in its 52nd year of publication, the OHR is an academic history journal that showcases the work of the U of A's top undergraduate and graduate history students. The editor of the OHR, assistant professor Justin Gage, called this issue "an example of the incredible research, writing and depth of thought that our students are doing at the UA."

The U of A community is invited to read this latest issue, along with past issues, at the The Ozark Historical Review site.

Students who publish in the OHR typically produce their articles in a writing-intensive history course where professors help them navigate historical methods of research and writing. The spring 2024 issue features articles by Mary Claire Durr and Alex McEachern, both M.A. students, and Karlie Barnett, a 2023 B.A. graduate and current M.P.S. student at the Clinton School of Public Service.

"Following their interests, these students asked important questions about our past, took it upon themselves to investigate and made exciting discoveries in primary sources," Gage remarked, "and I'm happy they shared those stories with us."

Durr's article, "Into the Canebrakes: Arkansas and the NAACP's Campaign for a Federal Anti-Lynching Law," demonstrates that Black Arkansans mobilized politically in the years after WWI despite the violence directed against them in Arkansas. Durr argues that incidents of racial violence that brought national attention to Arkansas, like the Elaine Massacre (1919) and the lynching of Henry Lowery (1921), spurred on NAACP efforts to get a federal anti-lynching law.

McEachern's article, "Failures in Federal Responses to Natural Disasters Along the Mississippi River," recounts the shortcomings of the government response to the Great Flood of 1927 and the flooding brought on by Hurricane Katrina decades later. McEachern uses the records of the American Red Cross, especially the reports of field nurse Mary Emma Smith, to figure out the issues getting relief to victims in 1927 and the disparities of aid to African Americans.

Barnett's "Women and Religion in the Mongol Empire" is a sweeping overview of women's lives in the 13th and 14th century Mongol Empire. Barnett shows how women contributed to Mongol society, especially through religion, during a period of great change.

History courses give students the opportunity to do this high-impact learning.

"Faculty members are reshaping their courses to connect key concepts and questions with students' early and active involvement in research and other forms of scholarly inquiry that are high-impact practices," said Caree Banton, chair of the Department of History. "The goal is to involve students in the excitement of taking on challenging questions, the necessary empirical observation and evaluation of evidence, and the use of different technologies to answer important questions emanating from the humanities."

The process of publishing research can be challenging but highly rewarding. "Students who publish in the OHR are creating something that lasts forever; their articles will not only be in Mullins Library, they will also be available to scholars across the globe," Gage noted. "They're contributing to our collective knowledge of who we are and how we came to be that way."

Students can submit their original research papers for consideration of publication in the OHR by Dec. 20. All submissions will be reviewed by the editorial committee, which includes professors Matthew E. Stanley, Jared Phillips and Jeannie Whayne. The OHR is published at the end of the spring semester. More details are here: OHR Guidelines and Deadlines PDF.