Making history: double student success

Alumnae win prestigious award and Harriet Tubman Prize aimed at supporting a new generation of BAME students to flourish in the discipline

Two History graduates from the Class of 2024 have won prestigious awards this summer.

Rhian Davies (BA 2024, History) has won a place to continue her studies in the USA through the highly competitive Kinder-BrANCH Fellowship, supported by the Kinder Institute for Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri, and British American Nineteenth Century Historians (BrANCH). The award includes a fully funded place on the MA scheme in Atlantic History and Politics in this new academic year plus a generous stipend for the year and return flights.

Rhian said:

“I am so thankful to have been awarded the 2024/25 Kinder-BrANCH Fellowship to undertake the MA in Atlantic History and Politics at the University of Missouri. This means so much to me, as I have been able to afford to continue my studies, and it has given me the pleasure of studying at a leading US public university. Experiencing US college life at a world-class institution like the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, expanding my skillset further, and attending events like the American Football games have enabled me to immerse myself into a different way of life, participating in university traditions. This invaluable opportunity has allowed me to step outside my comfort zone, explore new places and meet new people.”

In a double for history students at the University, Alisha Stephenson (BA 2024, History) has scooped a prestigious BrANCH prize. Alisha wins the Harriet Tubman Prize, awarded for the best undergraduate essay or research project on 19th century American history by Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic students based in the UK, with work described as impressive, sensitive, considerate, and well-argued by the judging panel.

Alisha said:

“I was elated to hear that my module lead Dr David Doddington, had nominated me for the prestigious Harriet Tubman Award, it came as a complete surprise as I was away working in the USA over the summer recess.  Throughout my undergraduate studies, I have consistently focused my reading around my personal interests, in particular Black British, African-American, and pan-African history. This culminated in my undergraduate dissertation entitled Navigating Oppression: The Gendered Resistance of Enslaved Women in the Antebellum South. As someone of Jamaican heritage, I was dismayed that it wasn’t until I reached university that I had the opportunity to study black history. There is still so much I would like to research regarding my own cultural heritage. I am eager to continue deepening my academic knowledge and understanding in this field. Receiving this award is truly an honour, and it will allow me to further explore the humanitarian struggles of my ancestors while expanding my research in this vital area of history.”

The two accolades reflect efforts at tackling obstacles to racial and ethnic diversity and inclusion in history departments in UK universities including progression from undergraduate to postgraduate level for members of the Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (or BAME) communities following discipline surveys and reports published by the British Association for American Studies (BAAS) and the Royal Historical Society.

Honouring the fugitive enslaved woman, abolitionist, and activist Harriet Tubman, the eponymous prize has been designed to encourage more BAME students to consider postgraduate work in 19th century American history.

With wide-ranging collective expertise spanning emerging fields like digital and environmental history alongside highly popular areas including cultural, gender, political and social history, history at the University also spans the British Isles, Europe (east and west), Africa, Asia, and the Americas at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.