Podcast appearances and mentions of Amy Murrell Taylor

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 2, 2026) – As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, the University of Kentucky Department of History is helping the campus and broader community think more deeply about 1776 — not only as a moment of celebration, but as a moment for reflection. Through its 'Celebrating 1776' lecture series, public events, film screenings and courses, the department is bringing together historians, public scholars and UK experts to explore the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence and the ideas that have shaped the nation across two and a half centuries. On this episode of 'Behind the Blue,' Amy Murrell Taylor, Ph.D., the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History at UK, joins host Kody Kiser to discuss America 250, Kentucky's place in the story of the founding era and why the principles of liberty, equality and governance by the people remain so alive in the national conversation. "These are moments, yes, of celebration, but moments that encourage people to stop and think: what are we celebrating exactly?" Taylor said. "What is this nation? What is this Declaration of Independence that we're celebrating?" Taylor's scholarship focuses on the Civil War era, slavery, emancipation and the lived experiences of ordinary Americans. The last time she joined 'Behind the Blue,' the conversation centered on her award-winning book, 'Embattled Freedom,' and the national debate over Confederate memorials. In this episode, Taylor connects that earlier conversation to America 250 through questions of public memory — how people remember the past, what they choose to honor and how history continues to shape the present. "One through line between the conversations about Confederate memorials and the 250th is clearly how do we remember our past?" Taylor said. "How do we look back on it and learn from it and celebrate it?" Taylor also discusses Kentucky's relationship to the founding era. While Kentucky was not yet a state in 1776, the region was deeply shaped by the American Revolution, westward expansion, Indigenous resistance and settlement. Lexington itself was named for the Battle of Lexington in 1775, and what would become Kentucky was part of Virginia during the Revolutionary era. "Kentucky is part of what we might consider to be the traditional revolutionary story," Taylor said. "But it's also part of this other side to the revolution that hasn't gotten as much attention in our collective memory." The episode also previews the Department of History's 'Celebrating 1776' series. Events include public conversations and lectures with leading historians and public scholars, including Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis; Christy Coleman, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation; a September screening of highlights from the PBS film "The American Revolution" by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt; and an October lecture by Patrick Spero, chief executive officer of the American Philosophical Society, on "André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Kentucky Conspiracy of 1793." The department is also incorporating the anniversary into coursework, including classes on the American Revolution and U.S. history. Taylor said students are engaging directly with founding documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, not simply to memorize them, but to understand their origins, their meaning and how Americans have continued to invoke them across generations. "What I want them to get out of reading these documents is they're not going to memorize them," Taylor said. "But I want them to generally understand basically what's in there, but walk away from my class with an impulse to always go back and look." For Taylor, America 250 offers an opportunity for the public to ask historical questions — not only about what happened in 1776, but about why those events continue to matter. "I would love for people in this moment to ask some questions about what they're celebrating," Taylor said. "Even as they're eating their hot dogs and watermelon and whatever they're having, maybe some questions will come to their minds." You can find out more about the UK Department of History here. And, you can learn more about the department's 'Celebrating 1776' lecture series here. 'Behind the Blue' is available via a variety of podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Spotify. Subscribe to receive new episodes each week, featuring UK's latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists, writers and the most important news impacting the university. 'Behind the Blue' is a production of the University of Kentucky. Transcripts for most episodes are now embedded in the audio file and can be accessed in many podcast apps during playback. Transcripts for older episodes remain available on the show's blog page.  To discover how the University of Kentucky is advancing our Commonwealth, click here. This interview has been edited for time and clarity.

Over the next few weeks we'll be highlighting some of our best THINK HUMANITIES episodes. Take a listen to this 2020 conversation with Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor, who joined host Bill Goodman to talk about her award winning book "Embattled Freedom: Journeys Through the Civil War's Slave Refugee Camps." THINK HUMANITIES is made possible by generous support from the Spalding University Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann Graduate School of Writing.

Emancipation was an uncertain process and one that enslaved people had to pursue throughout the Civil War. Or as Embattled Freedom author Murrell Taylor writes, "Freedom had to searched for and found." In this special re-released episode, listen to my discussion with Amy Murrell Taylor at the 2019 Civi War Institute Summer Conference.

The Kentucky Historical Society and WUKY are back with another episode of 120: Common Threads of Kentucky History. This week we discover and discuss a number of unique stories tied to Kentucky's role in the Civil War. We talk with Amy Murrell Taylor, associate professor of history at the University of Kentucky about her book, Embattled Freedom; Journeys Through The Civil War's Slave Refugee Camps, which recently won the prestigious Frederick Douglass prize for the study of global slavery, and Chuck Welsko, manager of the Kentucky Historical Society's Civil War Governors project. We also hear a number of first-hand accounts of Kentuckians who were caught up in the conflict. Once again your hosts are WUKY's Alan Lytle and Greg Hardison & Stuart Sanders of KHS.

John Lustrea spoke with Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor about her studies of refugee camps during the Civil War era.  The National Museum of Civil War Medicine is located in Frederick, Maryland. The Museum is the premier center for the preservation and research of the legacy of Civil War Medical innovation and humanitarianism. As a living institution, we utilize artifacts, storytelling and the historic lessons derived from that era to educate the public and define the impact on today’s society. You can learn more about the Museum by visiting civilwarmed.org. You can support this podcast by donating or by becoming a member of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.  Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor is an associate professor of history at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on the social and cultural history of the U.S. South in the 19th century. Her latest book, Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps (UNC Press, 2018), is a study of the many thousands of men, women, and children who fled slavery and sought refuge behind the lines of the Union army during the American Civil War. She previously examined families divided by national loyalties, both the realities of their lives and the images of them in popular culture, in The Divided Family in Civil War America (UNC Press, 2005). She is the co-editor, with Stephen Berry, of the “UnCivil Wars” series with the University of Georgia Press, as well as an editorial advisory board member of the Civil War Monitor magazine and a past member of the board of editors of the Journal of Southern History. She is also involved in a variety of public history and historic preservation projects in central Kentucky.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (August 6, 2020) – The discussions over removal of Confederate memorials in the United States have been some of the more prominent ones in our current cultural landscape. Gaining momentum from other recent social movements that are happening concurrently, from Black Lives Matter to #MeToo and beyond, the focus of these discussions now seems to have widened to include memorials and statues that go well further back than the American Civil War, and beyond the borders of this country. Amy Murrell Taylor, the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History at the University of Kentucky, last appeared on Behind the Blue in September of 2017. On this newest episode, Taylor returns to discuss how this movement has progressed over the past three years, and how the University and Lexington are approaching these conversations. “I think Lexington has gotten past the most contentious part of the monument piece of all of this,” says Taylor. “But monuments are just one piece of a much bigger struggle for racial justice.” Taylor also talks about her recent book, “Embattled Freedom: Journeys Through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps”, and its themes of freedom not just coming to people despite the war and its resolution, but that it had to be sought after in the midst of it. "Behind the Blue" is available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of “Behind the Blue” each week. UK’s latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university. For questions or comments about this or any other episode of "Behind the Blue," email BehindTheBlue@uky.edu or tweet your question with #BehindTheBlue. To discover what’s wildly possible at the University of Kentucky, click here.

Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor joins host Bill Goodman on THINK HUMANITIES to talk about her book Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps, which was recently awarded the prestigious Frederick Douglass Book Prize.

Review of: "Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps," by Amy Murrell Taylor

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more would make a mass exodus from slavery to freedom. Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor, an associate professor in the UK history department has written a powerful book about this period in our history. Embattled Freedom : Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps' draws on an extraordinary survey of these make-shift camps throughout the country, including at Camp Nelson in Central Kentucky, revealing as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees. In fact it recently won the prestigious Frederick Douglass Book Prize for 2019. She discusses her project with WUKY's Alan Lytle.

Recorded at the 2019 Civil War Institute Summer Conference on the campus of Gettysburg college, this episode features Dr. Rachel Shelden and Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor. Rachel Sheldon talked about her book Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War. Shelden's book focuses on the personal relationships forged by Washington politicians during the tumultuous 1850s. While much of the country remained divided over slavery, elected officials, insulated by the fraternity-like atmosphere of Congress, failed to recognize the gravity of the secession crisis. Amy Murrell Taylor discussed her brand new book Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War's Slave Refugee Camps. Taylor's book explores the long struggle for freedom many enslaved people faced during the Civil War and the "massive dislocation" the war caused.

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more followed in a mass exodus from slavery that would destroy the system once and for all. Drawing on an extraordinary survey of slave refugee camps throughout the country, Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War's Slave Refugee Camps(University of North Carolina Press, 2018) reveals as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees from slavery as they made their way through the vast landscape of army-supervised camps that emerged during the war. Amy Murrell Taylor vividly reconstructs the human world of wartime emancipation, taking readers inside military-issued tents and makeshift towns, through commissary warehouses and active combat, and into the realities of individuals and families struggling to survive physically as well as spiritually. Narrating their journeys in and out of the confines of the camps, Taylor shows in often gripping detail how the most basic necessities of life were elemental to a former slave's quest for freedom and full citizenship. The stories of individuals--storekeepers, a laundress, and a minister among them--anchor this ambitious and wide-ranging history and demonstrate with new clarity how contingent the slaves' pursuit of freedom was on the rhythms and culture of military life. Taylor brings new insight into the enormous risks taken by formerly enslaved people to find freedom in the midst of the nation's most destructive war. Adam McNeil is a PhD student in History, African American Public Humanities Initiative and Colored Conventions Project Fellow at the University of Delaware. He can be reached on Twitter @CulturedModesty.

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more followed in a mass exodus from slavery that would destroy the system once and for all. Drawing on an extraordinary survey of slave refugee camps throughout the country, Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps(University of North Carolina Press, 2018) reveals as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees from slavery as they made their way through the vast landscape of army-supervised camps that emerged during the war. Amy Murrell Taylor vividly reconstructs the human world of wartime emancipation, taking readers inside military-issued tents and makeshift towns, through commissary warehouses and active combat, and into the realities of individuals and families struggling to survive physically as well as spiritually. Narrating their journeys in and out of the confines of the camps, Taylor shows in often gripping detail how the most basic necessities of life were elemental to a former slave's quest for freedom and full citizenship. The stories of individuals--storekeepers, a laundress, and a minister among them--anchor this ambitious and wide-ranging history and demonstrate with new clarity how contingent the slaves' pursuit of freedom was on the rhythms and culture of military life. Taylor brings new insight into the enormous risks taken by formerly enslaved people to find freedom in the midst of the nation's most destructive war. Adam McNeil is a PhD student in History, African American Public Humanities Initiative and Colored Conventions Project Fellow at the University of Delaware. He can be reached on Twitter @CulturedModesty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more followed in a mass exodus from slavery that would destroy the system once and for all. Drawing on an extraordinary survey of slave refugee camps throughout the country, Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War's Slave Refugee Camps(University of North Carolina Press, 2018) reveals as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees from slavery as they made their way through the vast landscape of army-supervised camps that emerged during the war. Amy Murrell Taylor vividly reconstructs the human world of wartime emancipation, taking readers inside military-issued tents and makeshift towns, through commissary warehouses and active combat, and into the realities of individuals and families struggling to survive physically as well as spiritually. Narrating their journeys in and out of the confines of the camps, Taylor shows in often gripping detail how the most basic necessities of life were elemental to a former slave's quest for freedom and full citizenship. The stories of individuals--storekeepers, a laundress, and a minister among them--anchor this ambitious and wide-ranging history and demonstrate with new clarity how contingent the slaves' pursuit of freedom was on the rhythms and culture of military life. Taylor brings new insight into the enormous risks taken by formerly enslaved people to find freedom in the midst of the nation's most destructive war. Adam McNeil is a PhD student in History, African American Public Humanities Initiative and Colored Conventions Project Fellow at the University of Delaware. He can be reached on Twitter @CulturedModesty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more followed in a mass exodus from slavery that would destroy the system once and for all. Drawing on an extraordinary survey of slave refugee camps throughout the country, Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps(University of North Carolina Press, 2018) reveals as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees from slavery as they made their way through the vast landscape of army-supervised camps that emerged during the war. Amy Murrell Taylor vividly reconstructs the human world of wartime emancipation, taking readers inside military-issued tents and makeshift towns, through commissary warehouses and active combat, and into the realities of individuals and families struggling to survive physically as well as spiritually. Narrating their journeys in and out of the confines of the camps, Taylor shows in often gripping detail how the most basic necessities of life were elemental to a former slave's quest for freedom and full citizenship. The stories of individuals--storekeepers, a laundress, and a minister among them--anchor this ambitious and wide-ranging history and demonstrate with new clarity how contingent the slaves' pursuit of freedom was on the rhythms and culture of military life. Taylor brings new insight into the enormous risks taken by formerly enslaved people to find freedom in the midst of the nation's most destructive war. Adam McNeil is a PhD student in History, African American Public Humanities Initiative and Colored Conventions Project Fellow at the University of Delaware. He can be reached on Twitter @CulturedModesty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more followed in a mass exodus from slavery that would destroy the system once and for all. Drawing on an extraordinary survey of slave refugee camps throughout the country, Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps(University of North Carolina Press, 2018) reveals as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees from slavery as they made their way through the vast landscape of army-supervised camps that emerged during the war. Amy Murrell Taylor vividly reconstructs the human world of wartime emancipation, taking readers inside military-issued tents and makeshift towns, through commissary warehouses and active combat, and into the realities of individuals and families struggling to survive physically as well as spiritually. Narrating their journeys in and out of the confines of the camps, Taylor shows in often gripping detail how the most basic necessities of life were elemental to a former slave's quest for freedom and full citizenship. The stories of individuals--storekeepers, a laundress, and a minister among them--anchor this ambitious and wide-ranging history and demonstrate with new clarity how contingent the slaves' pursuit of freedom was on the rhythms and culture of military life. Taylor brings new insight into the enormous risks taken by formerly enslaved people to find freedom in the midst of the nation's most destructive war. Adam McNeil is a PhD student in History, African American Public Humanities Initiative and Colored Conventions Project Fellow at the University of Delaware. He can be reached on Twitter @CulturedModesty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more followed in a mass exodus from slavery that would destroy the system once and for all. Drawing on an extraordinary survey of slave refugee camps throughout the country, Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps(University of North Carolina Press, 2018) reveals as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees from slavery as they made their way through the vast landscape of army-supervised camps that emerged during the war. Amy Murrell Taylor vividly reconstructs the human world of wartime emancipation, taking readers inside military-issued tents and makeshift towns, through commissary warehouses and active combat, and into the realities of individuals and families struggling to survive physically as well as spiritually. Narrating their journeys in and out of the confines of the camps, Taylor shows in often gripping detail how the most basic necessities of life were elemental to a former slave's quest for freedom and full citizenship. The stories of individuals--storekeepers, a laundress, and a minister among them--anchor this ambitious and wide-ranging history and demonstrate with new clarity how contingent the slaves' pursuit of freedom was on the rhythms and culture of military life. Taylor brings new insight into the enormous risks taken by formerly enslaved people to find freedom in the midst of the nation's most destructive war. Adam McNeil is a PhD student in History, African American Public Humanities Initiative and Colored Conventions Project Fellow at the University of Delaware. He can be reached on Twitter @CulturedModesty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amy Murrell Taylor, author of "Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil Wars Slave Refugee Camps"

Amy Murrell Taylor, author of "Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil Wars Slave Refugee Camps"

Amy Murrell Taylor, author of "Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil Wars Slave Refugee Camps"

Amy Murrell Taylor, author of "Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil Wars Slave Refugee Camps"

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more followed in a mass exodus from slavery that would destroy the system once and for all. Drawing on an extraordinary survey of slave refugee camps throughout the country, Embattled Freedom reveals as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees from slavery as they made their way through the vast landscape of army-supervised camps that emerged during the war. Amy Murrell Taylor vividly reconstructs the human world of wartime emancipation, taking readers inside military-issued tents and makeshift towns, through commissary warehouses and active combat, and into the realities of individuals and families struggling to survive physically as well as spiritually. Narrating their journeys in and out of the confines of the camps, Taylor shows in often gripping detail how the most basic necessities of life were elemental to a former slave's quest for freedom and full citizenship. The stories of individuals--storekeepers, a laundress, and a minister among them--anchor this ambitious and wide-ranging history and demonstrate with new clarity how contingent the slaves' pursuit of freedom was on the rhythms and culture of military life. Taylor brings new insight into the enormous risks taken by formerly enslaved people to find freedom in the midst of the nation's most destructive war.

This is a free preview of Reconstruction, a Slate Academy. Learn more at Slate.com/Reconstruction. Episode 1: Experiments in Land-owning: Davis Bend and Cameron Place Some freedpeople ended up owning parcels of the land they had worked when enslaved. Some formed intentional communities to farm it. By the end of Reconstruction, most of them had no land to their names. Amy Murrell Taylor is the author of The Divided Family in Civil War America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a free preview of Reconstruction, a Slate Academy. Learn more at Slate.com/Reconstruction. Episode 1: Experiments in Land-owning: Davis Bend and Cameron Place Some freedpeople ended up owning parcels of the land they had worked when enslaved. Some formed intentional communities to farm it. By the end of Reconstruction, most of them had no land to their names. Amy Murrell Taylor is the author of The Divided Family in Civil War America.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (September 7, 2017) – The debate surrounding Confederate monuments and statues in public spaces has ebbed and flowed since their creation. This debate seems to be at high point, with the June 2015 murders of nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina serving as a springboard into a national spotlight of conversation and controversy. From Florida to California, from Alabama to Maine, monuments to the Confederacy have been under increased scrutiny and efforts to either preserve them on or remove them from the grounds they occupy. In an effort to get more perspective on the swirling interest around the future of these statues, this week’s episode of Behind the Blue features Dr. Amy Murrell Taylor, from the Department of History in the UK College of Arts & Sciences. A 2016 winner of the UK Alumni Association’s Great Teacher Award, Dr. Taylor’s research focuses on the social and cultural history of the U.S. South in the era of the Civil War and Emancipation. Dr. Taylor’s first book, The Divided Family in Civil War America (UNC Press, 2005), explored the image and reality of families divided by national loyalties in the Civil War period. Her current book project, Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the U.S. Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps (UNC Press, forthcoming), is a study of the many thousands of men, women, and children who fled slavery during the Civil War. Dr. Taylor gives a historian’s perspective on how she approaches the discussion regarding these monuments, how many people would be surprised at Kentucky’s actual role in the Civil War, the reactions and insights she gets from students, and more. Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of "Behind the Blue" each week. UK's latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university. For questions or comments about this or any other episode of "Behind the Blue," email BehindTheBlue@uky.edu or tweet your question with #BehindTheBlue. Click here for "Behind the Blue" on iTunes. MEDIA CONTACT: Amy Jones-Timoney, amy.jones2@uky.edu, (859) 257-2940 ### UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, go to: uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue