Roanoke College History Department

07/31/2025

Read Dr. Gibbs' latest essay published in the London Journal!

Published in The London Journal: A Review of Metropolitan Society Past and Present (Vol. 50, No. 2, 2025)

03/20/2025

Emancipation Week is coming!

02/26/2025

Dr. Willingham holding forth on the German elections:

12/12/2024

Our Madison keeps on climbing! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/yxvxdj66MMqnJGcy/

One of the reasons that first year student Madison Smith chose Virginia Tech for her master's degree is because "as a native Coloradan, Southwest Virginia reminds me a little of home." Madison is a first generation student and wants to pursue academia as far as she can take it! Once she completes the program, she looks forward to archival and research work in a large museum.

🌟 Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado
🌟 Program Year: first year student
🌟 Undergraduate Institution: Roanoke College
🌟 Research Interests: classics and the ancient Mediterranean, ancient cultures, post-Civil War (U.S.), Anti-Black/Anti-Asian racism in Southern US, religion in minority groups, Apartheid impact, 19th/20th-century US history
🌟 Hobbies: baking, crocheting, reading, playing video games, and taking care of her cat, Apollo

11/04/2024

Roanoke College had the honor of hosting His Excellency Hyundong Cho, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States, on our campus today, along with Kijoung Cho, minister and consul general of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea. This marks the first official visit by a sitting ambassador in more than 100 years, and it is especially significant due to Roanoke College’s unique connection with Korea. They met with Dr. Stella Xu and President Frank Shushok, Jr. as well as several Roanoke College students.

10/02/2024

https://roanoke.edu/news/korean_artists_residency

The grant-funded residency brought three accomplished artisans from Wonju, Korea, to campus for two weeks.

09/15/2024

05/20/2024

On day two of our Historical Archaeology May term we spent time at Montpelier to see how archaeologists and the descendant community work together to excavate artifacts that, in turn, are used to educate the public about the realities of chattel slavery. The film in the basement and interpretive areas in the slave quarter cabins are excellent. They are frank but appropriate for a young audience grappling with a difficult subject. We also stopped by the Montpelier Depot to walk through the lay-out of a segregated train station during the Jim Crow era. It is a well-kept building but needs more interpretive work to take best advantage of a powerful space.

05/20/2024

We spent day four in Colonial Williamsburg talking with interpreters, visiting workshops, watching archaeologists excavate along Nassau street, and making new friends of the four-legged variety.

05/20/2024

A huge thank you to Kelley Deetz for giving us a behind-the-scenes tour at Stratford Hall. Her new exhibit, Stratford at the Crossroads: Atlantic Cultures and the Creation of America, was visually stunning. There were many treasures artifacts worth seeing including a pair of embroidered Iroquois fans, portraits of the Lee women, and a mourning pendant. But the students found two objects to be particularly rich in meaning—a hoodoo cache and a crystal Kongo cosmogram that enslaved carpenters placed in a wall and window seat as a form of protection during the house’s construction. We also had the chance to say hello to Ellen Burke, a fellow Roanoke College history major, interning at Stratford Hall this summer.