Everything and Everyone has a History
Bradley Harms in the cockpit of the presidential helicopter. President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush exit the helicopter.
From campus to the cockpit
Alumnus Colonel Harms’ flight path through history
Marc Hertzman and book cover
Professor Marc Hertzman receives AHA award and two honorable mentions for book "After Palmares"
Hertzman received the James A. Rawley Prize in Atlantic History, and honorable mentions for the Warren Dean Memorial Prize and Murdoe J. MacLeod Book Prize
Shannan Mason stands in front of a tree
Exploring how people consumed nature in early America
Lecturer Shannan Mason joins the Department of History
Benjamin Zavell
From history major to renewable energy analyst
Q&A with alumnus Benjamin Zavell
Book cover on left and picture of peter fritzsche on right
How 1942 was a global war without end
Professor Peter Fritzsche publishes new book "1942: When World War II Engulfed the Globe"
Chelsey Smith
Understanding education as a tool of liberation and empire in the Caribbean
Professor Chelsey Smith joins the Department of History

Why Study History?

Take a walk with professor Rosalyn LaPier to learn why the study of history is important today. 

History Major Explore career paths Meet our students

Spring 2026 Highlighted History Courses

Black Music

What is black music, and how do we know what we think we know about it? Examine musical creations pioneered by Africans and individuals of African descent over several centuries and across hemispheres.

History of Africa from 1800

Understand the history of Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, agricultural exchange, growth of Christianity, nineteenth-century European expansion, European colonial rule during the twentieth century, anticolonial nationalism, decolonization, and postcolonial political, economic, social, and cultural developments.

Madness and Modern Society

Explore the development of the mind sciences in modern Europe from the beginning of state-regulated asylums to the advent of pharmaceutical treatment and care in the community.

World War II: A Global History

Trace the political, military, social, and economic history of the Second World War. Understand the collapse of the Versailles system, the Interwar crisis of democracy, the rise of totalitarian regimes, the civilian experience of war, the intersection of ideology and violence, and the onset of the Nuclear Age.

The Caribbean since 1492: From Columbus to Castro

How colonialism, plantation slavery, the age of abolition, and the emergence of national independence movements made the modern Caribbean.

Sport and Society

Examines the history of the roles that sport has played in society through a series of topical foci, as selected by the professor each semester. This semester will explore baseball and integration.

Civil War and Reconstruction

Understand a formative period in U.S. history. During this period, the nation underwent its second revolution—a revolution more radical in its impact than the one that freed it from the British Empire. Much about U.S. history for the next century and more was decided during these critical years.

Roman Republic to 44 BC

Examine the political, social, economic, military, institutional, religious and cultural development of Rome from 753 BCE until 14 CE.

Chart Your Own Path

Our program empowers you to explore your interests and passions within history and gives you the flexibility to pair the major with advanced language study, internships, study abroad experiences, undergraduate research, and community engagement.  

Get involved Study Abroad

Conduct Your Own Research

Research is embedded in the history curriculum with an emphasis on transforming students from consumers of history to critical producers of it. All students have access to the resources of the second largest university library in the country. 

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In the News

Antoinette Burton

Chicago Tribune

Professor Antoinette Burton proposes an app for fascism prediction (e.g. the study of history) in The Chicago Tribune
Peter Fritzsche

New York Times

Professor Peter Fritzsche's new book 1942: When World War II Engulfed the Globe was reviewed by the New York Times.
Rosalyn LaPier

Daily Illini

Professor Rosalyn LaPier discusses the impact of mascots based on Native American imagery and implores people to stop wearing merch featuring former U of I Mascot Chief Illiniwek in a Letter to the Editor. 

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Clarence Lang

Alumni Spotlight: Clarence Lang (PhD 2004)

Clarence Lang is the Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State. The below comments were obtained shortly after the completion of his PhD.