Opportunities

The Law and Race Initiative will host a three-week summer residential fellowship at UNL, inviting four history or social science graduate students and J.D. students from applicants across the U.S. Our goals for the fellowship program are, first, to support underrepresented students in the study of law and race; and, second, to foster critical engagement with law and policy issues that have profoundly historical dimensions.  

The summer graduate fellowship program will combine professional and experiential opportunities with independent, individual research, and mentoring. During their residential period, fellows will contribute to the ongoing development of shared content for the U.S. Law and Race Open Educational Resource. For the remainder of the summer, fellows will have the opportunity to undertake internships to contribute to research on race and law that serves tribal nations, advocacy organizations, and/or other community constituents.   

Fellows will receive a generous stipend, and the program will cover the costs of transportation as well as room and board for the fellowship.

The U.S. Law and Race Initiative seeks graduate student applicants for the Ph.D. program in the Department of History.

Funded with a major grant from the Mellon Foundation, the U.S. Law and Race Initiative will appoint Graduate Teaching Assistantships and Research Assistantships to support new courses in the curriculum, conduct research under the direction of the initiative’s co-directors, work with the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities in the development of materials for the U.S. Law and Race Open Educational Resource, and engage with the project’s community partners, including Vision Maker Media and the Institute for Politics Policy and History. 

We seek applications from students interested in addressing race and racialization in U.S. law and history broadly, aiming to understand racialized people’s use of the law to advance personhood, citizenship, rights, and sovereignty throughout American history. We are especially interested in applications from scholars who identify with traditionally underrepresented groups or attend Minority Serving Institutions.

For questions about the U.S. Law and Race Initiative, please contact William G. Thomas III, Angle Chair in the Humanities and Professor of History (wthomas4@unl.edu).