Kimberly Green, a graduate student in history at Arkansas Tech University, will present “Their Struggles Continued: Analyzing Arkansas’s Contraband Camps” at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 24, in Mullins Library Room 452 and on Zoom. This presentation is part of the University Libraries Special Collections Division’s Graduate Student Speaker Series, and registration is required.
Green resides in Springdale and is set to graduate from Arkansas Tech University next month. Her master’s thesis examines the presence of the United States Army in Arkansas during the Civil War and how the resulting humanitarian crisis was handled.
“This presentation discusses contraband camps by first looking at Helena’s failures by the U.S. Army before transitioning to examine Arkansas’ interior camps in DeValls Bluff, Little Rock, and Pine Bluff,” said Green. “As such, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was formed in 1865 to provide employment and assistance to African Americans as they became United States citizens.”
The Graduate Student Speaker Series began in 2018 as a collaborative effort between the University Libraries and the Graduate School and International Education. It affords graduate students the opportunity to present research or creative work they have done using materials from the University Libraries Special Collections Division and get feedback from the community as they continue their professional development. Sessions are recorded and uploaded to YouTube, and links to the recordings may be included on resumes or curricula vitae. Honorariums of $200 are provided for each speaker, and graduate students from all disciplines are welcome to apply.