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Site of integrated Illinois town founded by former slave is newest national park
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The New Philadelphia National Historic Site in western Illinois, commemorating the first U.S. town to be legally founded by African Americans, is the nation’s newest national park. The national park designation in late December is the result of years of work by descendants of New Philadelphia’s inhabitants, Pike County residents living near […]
What led to the attempted coup in Brazil, what comes next?
Jerry Dávila is the Lemann Chair in Brazilian History at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and executive director of the Illinois Global Institute. Dávila, who specializes in the history of Brazil in the 20th century, spoke with News Bureau business and law editor Phil Ciciora about civil unrest in Brazil. What was behind the Jan. […]
Illinois anthropology professor awarded NEH Fellowship
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign anthropology professor Erin Riggs has been awarded a 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. Riggs is a contemporary and historical archaeologist with interests in welfare state initiatives, materiality, national belonging and displacement in the recent past. “Congratulations to Professor Riggs on her NEH Fellowship,” Chancellor Robert J. […]
New website compiles ocean data from landmark 19th-century scientific voyage
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The HMS Challenger began a four-year voyage 150 years ago to explore the deep sea and the creatures that lived in it. The scientists aboard the ship discovered thousands of new species and recorded massive amounts of data about the oceans. The treasure trove of information they gathered is now available online […]
Why was the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol considered an ‘auto-coup d’état’?
The Coup d’État Project of the Cline Center for Advanced Social Research initially categorized the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as an “attempted dissident coup d’état.” It also recently announced an additional classification: “attempted auto-coup d’état.” Scott Althaus is the director of the Cline Center, a nonpartisan research center at the […]
Book examines tallgrass prairies’ ecological history, effects on Indigenous cultures
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The heart of the American Midwest was one of the most important ecological and cultural borderland areas in North America for Indigenous people in early American history, according to a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign historian. Situated in a transition zone between woodlands and grasslands, the transformation of the tallgrass prairie landscape created […]
Architecture professor’s book examines cultural tourism that began in Depression-era Mississippi
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Seeking to support their city’s economy during the Great Depression, the women of Natchez, Mississippi, developed one of the first cultural tourism sites in the U.S., centered around the city’s antebellum architecture. In doing so, they created an image of the Old South as grand mansions and gracious living. Paul Hardin Kapp, […]
Paper: Neurotic personality trait a key risk factor for stress perception
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new paper co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experts who study the science of personalities points to the important role of personality traits to account for individual differences in experiencing stress. In a meta-analysis synthesizing more than 1,500 effect sizes from about 300 primary studies, the team showed […]
What message did voters send this midterm election?
Brian Gaines is a professor of political science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a senior scholar at the U. of I. System’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs. Gaines, who studies elections and public opinion, spoke with News Bureau business and law editor Phil Ciciora about the results of the 2022 midterm elections. […]
Project to reconnect Native American tribes with historic hide painting, artistic tradition
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Native American tribes that once called Illinois home painted deer and bison hides with stories and symbols that were important to their culture. Some of the best examples of this artistic tradition – four painted hide robes made sometime between 1680 and 1750 – are now in the collection of the […]
Why do we love horror films?
October brings another onscreen killing spree by the knife-wielding Michael Myers in “Halloween Ends,” purportedly the final movie in the “Halloween” film franchise that began 44 years ago and includes more than a dozen films. Jim Hansen is an English professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who studies 20th century literature and film, including […]
Illinois journal highlights new findings on the Black Death’s timeline, origin
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — New research indicates that the Black Death pandemic was already affecting Central Asia and East Asia a century earlier than its well-documented arrival in Europe. A special open-access issue of “The Medieval Globe,” a journal based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is devoted to the new evidence of when and where […]