History is everywhere. Whether walking down a city street or scrolling through your Twitter feed, you immediately encounter stories about the past and how it shapes our present.

At the center of many of today’s political debates and social movements are contested questions about our collective past. Nowhere is the past on greater display than here in Birmingham, a city that stands as a testament to some of the most painful and inspiring chapters in modern U.S. history. While Birmingham is known as a capital of the Black Freedom Movement and white resistance to it, our city also offers a wealth of possibilities for the study of industrialization, labor movements, urban history, and public health.

Here in the History Department, we tap into the spirit of inquiry that suffuses the Magic City. Whether teaching or writing about ancient or modern history, or local or global history, we in the History Department enjoy sharing our insights with students and colleagues around the region and the world.