Department of History
Preparing students for a variety of careers through academics, community engagement, and experiential learning
The Department of History is passionate about history and culture, and that passion drives our activities in the classroom and in our scholarship. Our talented faculty are versed in a variety of topics, teaching styles, and educational environments, and we take seriously our role in undergraduate education at Roger Williams University. From ancient Assyria or Chiapas land rights, to the American home or steampunk comic-book culture, we are ready to enhance your academic experience.
Students majoring in History are encouraged to participate in community engagement and experiential learning opportunities including internships, study abroad, and off-campus programs. On our Bristol campus, we are involved with the Community Partnership Center (CPC) where local organizations work with Roger Williams University to submit requests for assistance to advance their needs. Our students have been an integral part of numerous CPC projects including working numerous museums, foundations and societies on a wide range of initiatives. History students are also involved with the Foundation for the International Medical Relief for Children (FIRMC), an organization that offers free medical care to children and mothers.
Black Lives Matter.
Faculty in the Department of History support people's right to protest against oppressive systems, to find ways to make their voices heard when they are ignored, silenced, or erased by those who hold power. As faculty who study the past and its ramifications for our present, we know that effective protests have not always been peaceful, and that "civility" is often a word deployed as a tactic to control people's behaviors. In "More Devoted to Order Than to Justice," Ibram X. Kendi wrote: "If my ideological ancestors did not harass their political opponents, I would still be enslaved. I would still be segregated by law. I would still be one traffic stop away from death without any sustained movement insisting that my black life matters...Constructive confrontation is love."
As educators, our front line is the classroom, and our tool is knowledge. In our classes, students will learn about oppression, power, and privilege in history and in our present, in order to have a critical understanding of the origins of systemic and institutional racism in the U.S. and the world, and the mechanisms by which they are enabled and maintained.
Dismantling oppression and doing anti-racism work requires us to reflect on ourselves, listen to the experience of others, and know history so that we do not continue to repeat it. In that spirit, we are providing resources to foster awareness, understanding, growth, and action.
Bringing History To Life
Associate Professor of History Charlotte Carrington-Farmer was one of the consulting historians for “Slaversville: America’s First Mill Village” documentary on RIPBS. Three RWU students worked on a community engaged project that was central to the making of the documentary. Ben Scheff '18, Emma Ledoux '18, and Nataliya Murphy '16 worked on transcribing a range of 18th and 19th-century letters for the film and their names feature in the opening credits.
Watch the Documentary
Faculty and Staff
Meet the faculty and staff that make up our History programs.
Degree Offerings
We offer major and minor degree programs for History. Explore each undergraduate program:
Special Course Opportunities
The most important way to maintain excellence and rigor in the classroom is through innovative, unique, and relevant course offerings. One of the best parts about studying history at Roger Williams University is that you have the chance to take courses with faculty who love to teach, and who take the time to plan unparalleled classroom experiences.
Experiential Learning and Community Engagement
At Roger Williams University service learning is integrated into our Core Values, making the world our classroom. In the Department of History, faculty members take this idea to heart, and are committed to putting it into praxis. The art of Experiential Learning is to bring the classroom (theory and history learning) to the real world (practice/praxis). Through Experiential Learning students how ideas they encounter in the classroom play out in the real world, using the knowledge of historical, social, political and social justice to understand their experiences.