January 2024 Newsletter
Welcome to the first CHA newsletter of 2024!!
Welcome back! We hope you had a relaxing break and have been having a enjoyable (or at least not super stressful) first few weeks of classes!
We have dedicated this newsletter to the upcoming Black History Month and recognize the significant impact that Black individuals and communities have had on Columbia University's history, culture, and progress.
If you haven't gotten our newsletter before, the CHA hosts a variety of events on campus throughout the year for anyone interested in history. These events include midterm and finals study breaks, panel discussions with distinguished professors, and our fantastic peer mentoring program! This newsletter will also include suggestions for events related to history taking place in the city!
If you know of a history events to include in the next newsletter or a history fact that us Columbia history nerds need to see, please submit them to the google form below and they might appear in the next newsletter!
Spring 2024 Peer Mentoring Program!
The Columbia History Association (CHA) is excited to launch its Spring 2023 Peer Mentorship Program! CHA is the official undergraduate organization of the History Department, open to any undergraduate interested in history, whether or not you are a declared major/concentrator. The Peer Mentorship Program pairs upperclass history majors and concentrators with prospective/interested history students to foster community and share advice. Mentor-Mentee pairings meet at least once a semester, and Mentors are also invited to speak at CHA Peer Advice panels over the course of the spring.
To sign up, please fill out this brief registration form by 11:59pm EST on Thursday, February 8th, 2024. If you have any questions, feel free to contact CHA Mentorship Coordinator Megan (mm5771@columbia.edu).
Note: If you participated in the program in the fall, you must fill out this form! Participation from the fall semester will not roll over to the spring semester, and we will be releasing new pairings for this semester!
Research and Fellowship Panel!
The Columbia History Association (CHA) is excited to host a Research and Fellowships Panel from 3:30-4:30pm on Friday, February 9th, in Uris 103. The panel will feature presentations on opportunities for funded archival research by Professors Paul Chamberlin (History Director of Undergraduate Studies) and Pablo Piccato (History Department Chair) and Dean Ariella Lang (Dean of Columbia Undergraduate Research and Fellowships), followed by a discussion with graduating seniors who are writing history theses about their experiences of securing research funding.
The event is open to all, and will feature opportunities for students from all class years and majors with an interest in archival work! If you have any questions, feel free to contact CHA Chair Mrinalini (mw2706@columbia.edu) and/or Mentorship Coordinator Megan (mm5771@columbia.edu).
Archives Workshop!
Are you interested doing in archival research, but unsure how? Never been to an archive? Not sure what an archive is? Not sure where archives live? Ever wanted to do history research with primary sources but not sure where primary sources are or how to get to them? Done archival research but want more guidance or experience? Been assigned a term paper requiring archival research but feeling just a little bit lost? FEAR NOT! We have a workshop just for you!
On Friday February 16th, from 12:30 to 2:00pm, Dr. Thai Jones of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library will be leading a workshop about doing historical research in the archives. We will go over what archives are, what finding aids are and how to read them, how to locate and access archival collections and manuscripts, and what to do with them once you are in the reading room.
This workshop is for those who have ANY INTEREST AT ALL in doing archival research. By the end of the session, not only will you receive answers to all the questions mentioned above, but you will also have had a chance to handle and practice doing research with actual archival manuscripts housed at the RBML! Attendance limited by space. Please sign up to attend by NOON Friday, February 2nd HERE!
Museum Visit!
CHA will be hosting a group visit to the exhibit “What’s in a Name” at the American Museum of Natural History on Saturday, February 17th at 2:00pm. We anticipate that the tour will last for an hour. Taking place in the new Alcove Gallery of the David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center, this exhibit explores the history, significance, and challenges of scientific nomenclature, with a focus on insects, through rare books and other unique holdings from the Library's collections.
If you are interested in attending, please fill out this form by Wednesday, February 14th. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to any board member! We hope to see you there!
History Events in the City
New York City is one of the best cities in the world to visit museums and see other historical events! We live here nine months of the year, so we might as well take advantage of it! (Don't forget that students get free admission to almost every museum in NYC!)
This month's newsletter is dedicated to Black History Month! The theme for Black History Month 2024 focuses on “African Americans and the Arts”. Below are some digital resources and exhibitions for Black History Month. If anyone is interested in additional resources, they can email our outreach coordinator Kira Ratan at kbr2126@columbia.edu!
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture: "Chez Baldwin"
This exhibition is a interactive digital exhibit exploring of James Baldwin's life and works. Discover stories exploring Baldwin's time in St. Paul de Vence, his early life in Harlem, world travels, and impact as a writer and activist. The Smithsonian also offers a digital resource guide that allows you to explore, learn and engage with the African American history and culture through their extensive list of digital resources and educational offerings.
Library of Congress: "Rosa Parks, in Her Own Words"
Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words showcases rarely seen materials that offer an intimate view of Rosa Parks and documents her life and activism—creating a rich opportunity for viewers to discover new dimensions to their understanding of this seminal figure.
Rosa Parks (1913–2005) is best known for her refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a crowded bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the civil rights movement that ultimately led to the dismantling of Jim Crow segregation. Rosa Parks became an icon of the movement, celebrated for this single courageous act of civil disobedience, but she is often characterized by misconceptions. Contrary to popular belief, Parks was not a demure seamstress who chose not to stand because she was physically tired. Her calm demeanor hid a militant spirit forged over decades.
High Museum of Art Atlanta: Photos from the Civil Rights Movement
The High Museum of Art holds one of the most significant collections of photographs of the Civil Rights Movement. The works in this exhibition are only a small selection of the collection, which includes more than 300 photographs that document the social protest movement, from Rosa Parks’s arrest to the Freedom Rides to the tumultuous demonstrations of the late 1960s.
The city of Atlanta—the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—was a hub of civil rights activism and it figures prominently in the collection. Visionary leaders such as Dr. King, Congressman John Lewis, and former mayor Ambassador Andrew Young are featured alongside countless unsung heroes. The photographs in this collection capture the courage and perseverance of individuals who challenged the status quo, armed only with the philosophy of nonviolence and the strength of their convictions.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: "The African Origin of Civilization"
Scholars today recognize Africa as the source of our common ancestry. But in 1974, Senegalese scholar and humanist Cheikh Anta Diop shocked and challenged historians by asserting the influence of ancient African civilizations in his groundbreaking book The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality. This exhibition pays homage to Diop by presenting masterpieces from the Museum’s collections from west and central Africa alongside art from ancient Egypt for the first time in The Met’s history.
Through twenty-one pairings of works from different African cultures and eras, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary creativity of the continent across five millennia, revealing unexpected parallels and contrasts. Although there was no contact between their creators, the works share deep and under-recognized histories.
Columbia Historical Facts!
Did you know... Columbia University's first Black graduate was James R. Priest. It took until 1873 for Columbia's recently established School of Mines (later SEAS) to make a rare exception, enrolling the son of an African-American born into slavery who resettled in Liberia. Priest quickly rose to the top of his class and upon graduation returned home where he became a much-respected professor of mathematics in Liberia.
And... The first Black woman to attend and graduate from Barnard College was Zora Neale Hurston. She contributed countless literary works and employed indigenous Caribbean dialects to describe the lives of those in her native Florida and Haiti. She is one of the most widely read authors of the Harlem Renaissance.
Meet the new Team!
Chair: Mrinalini Sisodia Wadhwa CC'24
Vice Chair: Kay Zou CC'25
Treasurer: Janus Yuen CC'25
Outreach & Marketing Coordinators: Tymesha-Elizabeth Kindell CC'24, Tenley Roberson CC'24, Kira Ratan CC'26, Belan Yeshigeta CC'26
Transfer/ GS Coordinator: Sophia Sanico CC'24
Mentorship Coordinator: Megan Meyerson CC'24
Newsletter Written by: Tenley Roberson
