Dr. Kelly Jones
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
EDUCATION HISTORY
- BA-University of Arkansas at Little Rock
- MA-University of North Texas
- PHD-University of Arkansas
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Dr. Kelly Houston Jones specializes in the history of American slavery, usually focusing her research efforts on the Trans-Mississippi South. Her first book, A Weary Land: Slavery on the Ground in Arkansas won the John William Graves Award from the Arkansas Historical Association. Professor Jones carries an enduring interest in the history of Arkansas as the western edge of the American South, which informs her teaching and participation at public history events. She currently serves as president of the Arkansas Women’s History Institute.
Professor Jones is at work on a book manuscript tentatively titled Slavery’s Lynchings: Vigilante Killings of Enslaved People from the Colonial Era to the Civil War. The project has received support from ATU, the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Gilcrease Museum’s Helmerich Center for American Research, and the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William and Mary.
Dr. Jones is also the Graduate Program Director for the department, supporting students enrolled in our MA and Graduate Certificate programs.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
“Claims, Kidnappings, and Resistance in Indian Territory.” Michael Pierce and Caree Banton, eds. To Freedom and Back: The Nelson Hackett Case and its Legacy. University of Georgia Press, 2027.
“Lynching of Enslaved Persons and Free Blacks.” Michael Pfeifer, ed. Terrible Legacy: Encyclopedia of Lynching in America. Fortress, 2026.
“Making Their Place on the South’s Ragged Edge: USCT Women in Little Rock” in Karen Cook
Bell, ed., Southern Black Women and Their Struggle for Freedom during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Cambridge University Press, 2023.
“The Polks and the Business of Slavery” in Michael Cohen, ed. James K. Polk and His Time. University of Tennessee Press, 2022.
“Agricultural Power and Production in Antebellum America” in R. Douglas Hurt, ed. Companion to American Agricultural History. Wiley-Blackwell, 2022.
A Weary Land: Slavery on the Ground in Arkansas. University of Georgia Press, 2021.
Recently Taught Courses
- HIST 1903 - SURVEY OF AMERICAN HISTORY
- HIST 4153 - HISTORY OF ARKANSAS
- HIST 6003 - INTRO TO GRAD STUD OF HIST
- HIST 6013 - SEM IN U.S. HISTORY:
- HIST 6883 - WORKSHOP:
- HIST 6991 - THESIS/PORTFOLIO RESEARCH
- HIST 6993 - THESIS/PORTFOLIO RESEARCH
- HIST 6996 - THESIS/PORTFOLIO RESEARCH