Events Calendar

Where Do We Go From Here? 
Meditations on Region, Violence, &  Possibility

Friday, Jan. 20
12:40 p.m. - 1:40 p.m. (CST)
Join the event in person at 235 Boyd Law Building
Join virtually at Zoom ID: 963 0809 0742

In commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the College of Law, the UI Center for Human Rights, the Law Student DEI Committee, and Faculty DEI Committee welcomes Dr. Ashley Howard for a special lecture on Jan. 20 at 12:40 p.m. 

Ashley Howard earned her PhD from the University of Illinois and is an assistant professor of African American History at the University of Iowa. Her research interests include the Black Midwest; social movements; and the global history of racial violence. Her forthcoming book Prairie Fires, analyzes the 1960s urban rebellions in the Midwest and the ways race, class, gender, and region played critical and overlapping roles in defining resistance to racialized oppression.  

Dr. Howard's scholarship has appeared in the Journal of African American History, American Historian, Labor Studies Journal, and Middle West Review. Her "Then the Burnings Began" article is the winner of the 2018 James L. Sellers Memorial Prize. Howard’s work has also appeared in numerous media outlets, including the Financial Times, Washington Post, BBC World News Hour, National Public Radio, and Al Jazeera English. In 2021, she was recognized for her public-facing scholarship in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd uprisings with the university-wide Faculty Communicating Ideas award. 

As an educator, Howard’s encourages her students to be effective writers, critical thinkers, and active global citizens. In documenting incarcerated people’s experience with solitary confinement or identifying the connection between history and memory through a two-week Civil Rights tour, her students develop their skills through experiential learning. Howard also greatly values teaching opportunities where she can provide quality, university-level education to those with limited access. 

She is the executive producer of the documentary The African American Midwest: A 500-year Fight for Freedom and sits on several advisory boards.