Jill Gill, a professor in the Department of History, recently received praise from the National Park Service.
The park service’s National Register of Historic Places, the federal government’s list of sites, buildings, and more deemed worthy of preservation, included Gill’s “African American Civil Rights in Idaho Multiple Property Submission” as an “Excellent Example of Civil Rights Documentation” in its December 2021 newsletter.
The newsletter reads, “The Cover Documentation gives an outstanding account of how the African American Civil Rights movement in Idaho both dovetails with and diverges from the historical periodization of 1941- 1976 provided by the National Park Service.”
Dan Everhart, outreach historian for the Idaho State Historical Society, said that Gill’s statewide history will make it easier for historians and others to nominate Idaho sites tied to civil rights for inclusion in the register.
“Typically a nomination requires a fairly detailed history proving the importance of the site,” Everhart said. “With this document, that history can be abbreviated because the detailed statewide history has been written.”
The historical society plans to promote Gill’s work in February in celebration of Black History Month, Everhart said.