The U.S. Law and Race Initiative will host a product launch on December 16, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Ubuntu Room of the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center.
The event will celebrate the culmination of the three-year Mellon Foundation grant and the digital publication of Equality Before the Law. The Open Educational Resource (OER) will help teachers, students, scholars, and communities piece together (and pull apart) how law and legal processes shaped the construction of race, slavery, freedom, and unfreedom across U.S. history to today.
“Our launch is an opportunity to celebrate the work of our students, scholars, and collaborators who are passionate about bringing underexamined cases and legislation to a broader public,” Katrina Jagodinsky, co-director of the Mellon Initiative and Associate Professor in the Department of History, said.
OER are educational materials in the public domain or licensed to be freely used, changed, and shared.
“This resource removes barriers in profound ways,” Anne Gregory, a PhD student and research assistant in the department, said. “It levels the playing field for anyone interested in studying these histories.”
The project has been used for the primary course materials for HIST 115, “And Justice for All: Race, Gender, and the Law in U.S. History,” this fall. The course was launched in fall 2023 as part of the initiative.
“This course is such a unique experience for undergraduates,” Donna Anderson, co-director of the initiative and assistant professor in the department, said. Students can interrogate historical legal documents and interpret them with supporting essays and videos.
“I truly have never taught a class like this in my fifteen-year teaching career,” she said. “How often can someone say they participated in creating a classroom resource that is tailor-made to the course they teach?”
Researchers can use the tool to study how people engage with critical histories, comprehend the meaning of historical evidence, and absorb the meaning of unfamiliar stories, storytelling, and historical perspectives on present experiences.
“It opens up possibilities for research by giving streamlined access to an outstanding data set of curated records,” Gregory said.
The project was also a beneficial professional development opportunity.
“I gained mentorship from the senior faculty, learned how to manage all the considerations that come with large research projects, built networks, and ultimately benefited from the financial and intellectual support,” Anderson said.
“Being a part of this project was challenging but rewarding work,” Gregory said, “and I am proud of what the whole team accomplished.”
Phil Harper, the Mellon Foundation's Program Director of Higher Learning, will attend the event, along with members of the Mellon team working to expand programming throughout the Midwest. University of Nebraska–Lincoln leadership will also attend to celebrate this important development in public engagement and scholarship.
The U.S. Law and Race Initiative brings together large university teaching programs, immersive new forms of digital media content, and community partnership storytelling in order to connect Americans to law and race in U.S. history. Additional co-directors are Jeannette Eileen Jones, professor in the department, and William G. Thomas, III, PI and Dean of the College of Letters and Science at Montana State University. Partners from the College of Law and Libraries have also made important contributions.
“I believe ‘Equality Before the Law’ empowers the next generation of scholars to create innovative perspectives on American history,” Gregory said.
The Department of History is part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Learn more about the work of the initiative on Nebraska Today.
