Anna Newby is a recent graduate from Council Bluffs, Iowa enrolled in the UIS Public History MA program.  She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in American History from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa in May 2024.  Aside from her studies and research as a college student, Anna has had the opportunity to explore her passion through her involvement with the National History Day program over the last eight years.  Anna's historical interests lie in the realm of Social History and African American History, specifically in the Jim Crow era, the Long Black Freedom Struggle, women's history and U.S. presidents.  She is currently working as the Research Assistant in the Center for Lincoln Studies and as a pathways student at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.  She hopes to work for the National Parks Service in the future at one of their historic sites in the Midwest or the East Coast and to help the public understand how history got us to where we are and to make "hidden histories" more accessible!