College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences
Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History
Dr. John Kirk is the director of UA Little Rock’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity and a George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History. He is well known for his work on Arkansas civil rights history and has used his expertise to educate the general public on local, regional, and national levels.
Dr. Kirk has made many contributions through 43 community presentations, 34 local and national media interviews on behalf of UA Little Rock, 14 newspaper articles on issues pertaining to race and Arkansas history, 18 encyclopedia entries, and numerous blog entries. Kirk was a consultant for the documentary film The Road to Little Rock: Courage and Conviction of Judge Ronald Davies and appeared as a historical expert in Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock. He also contributes to the Arkansas Matters series for KUAR radio and has contributed 128 radio segments for local programming and an additional eight segments for Rockefeller Moments. Kirk wrote the text for the BBC’s official website on Martin Luther King, titled, “Did Martin Luther King achieve his life’s dream?” He has also participated in several partnerships with local institutions. Dr. Kirk recently assisted the City of Little Rock in the creation of the Arkansas Civil Rights History Tour app. Dr. Kirk is responsible for nine successful grant bids with the Arkansas Humanities Council and has also organized five successful years of the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail, an event that honors heroes of the Arkansas Civil Rights movement.
Dr. Kirk joined UA Little Rock six years ago. Prior to his employment at UA Little Rock, he had earned the rank of full professor at the University of London. He received a B.A in American Studies from the University of Nottingham and a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.