Our collaborative team is looking for FYRE students to assist in cataloguing and sharing histories of US Law & Race from the colonial period to the modern era. Specifically, FYRE students will work firsthand with scholars to collect and curate significant historical case files, generate themes and identify trends in the legal collection, and support efforts to craft narratives from these cases that appeal to a broader public audience. The project includes histories of marginalized people engaged in legal strategies to challenge coercion and oppression and employs critical and digital analytical tools to share those histories. Ideal students for this job are those interested in how the past informs the present, how race and racialization are central themes in American history, and how critical research design and creative storytelling can be used to broadcast those themes. We welcome students with no experience in reading legal documents and are prepared to train students from a diverse academic background. Our leadership team includes first-generation and under-represented scholars and our student scholars come from a wide range of disciplines including History as well as Political Science, Criminology, Sociology, Philosophy, English, Computing, and have minors in Ethnic Studies, Women’s & Gender Studies, and Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. We look forward to bringing FYRE students on board to share in this project. You can read more about the Initiative here: https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/team-earns-1m-grant-to-bridge-connections-between-history-civil-rights/
| Advisor Name: | Katrina Jagodinsky | |
| Email: | kjagodinsky@unl.edu | |
| Secondary Contact: | Jeannette Jones | |
| Secondary Contact Email: | jjones11@unl.edu | |
| Website: | https://www.unl.edu/summerprogram/reu-digital-legal-research-lab | |
| Advisor College: | Arts and Sciences | |
| Advisor Department: | History | |
| Potential Student Tasks: | Work in a collaborative and inclusive environment Attend and contribute to weekly team meetings Identify and catalog online historical legal records Index collected historical legal records Conduct supplemental research on select legal cases/statutes Generate social media announcements on team accomplishments/activities |
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| Student Qualifications: | Students curious about the fundamental characteristics of the American legal system and the process of racialization in American history will deeply appreciate this initiative. We are looking for detail-oriented and compassionate researchers prepared to balance individual stories of persistence and sometimes loss with broader narratives of legal reform and restrictions. Avid readers interested in developing archival and digital research skills and pursuing training in digital and legal analysis are strongly encouraged to apply. We welcome applicants with no prior experience and consider enthusiasm and curiosity as tremendous assets. | |
| Training, Mentoring, and Workplace Community: | Our team is collaborative and inclusive, valuing the individual contributions and strengths of each participant while also working to help individual team members meet their personal and professional development goals. Our leadership team is diverse in terms of background and historical field of expertise, and our student researchers come from a variety of personal and disciplinary backgrounds as well. Many of our past researchers have gone on to pursue both graduate school and law school and we work to include academic professional development in addition to the more specific skills required for our work. | |
| Available Positions | 3 | |
