Scot French

Dr. Scot French is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Virginia Center for Digital History (VCDH) at the University of Virginia. A scholar of race and slavery in American history and culture, he directs a number of community-based research projects and field learning experiences exploring the theme of “Race and Place.”

His book, The Rebellious Slave: Nat Turner in American Memory (Houghton Mifflin, 2004), received honorable mention in the 2005 Gustavus Myers Award competition, issued annually for works “which extend our understanding of the root causes of bigotry and the range of options we as humans have in constructing alternative ways to share power.” Last year, in partnership with VCDH Director of Technology Bill Ferster, he received an NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant for “Jefferson’s Travels: A Digital Journey Using the History Browser.”

Other projects at the Virginia Center for Digital History include The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War, Virtual Jamestown, and the Dolley Madison Project as well as latest initiatives like the HistoryBrowser. Dr. French and his asscociates are applying the latest advances in technology to historical projects which can support genealogical and family history research efforts.