The WWW Conference Committee is pleased to announce Dr. Jacob K. Friefeld will be the Keynote Speaker at the 2025 WWW Virtual Conference.
Dr. Jacob K. Friefeld is the Director of the Center for Lincoln Studies. He came to the Center from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and his research has focused on Abraham Lincoln’s western legacy. His recent book, co-authored with Richard Edwards, The First Migrants: How Black Homesteaders’ Quest for Land and Freedom Heralded America’s Great Migration, tells the epic story of Black Americans homesteading in the Great Plains after the Civil War.
The First Migrants was praised as the first account of Black homesteading and recognized for its contribution for understanding the American West.
- Winner of the Denver Public Library’s 2024 Caroline Bancroft History Prize
- Winner of the 2024 Nebraska Book Award
- Finalist for the 2024 Spur Award
- Finalist for the 2024 ASALH Book Prize
- Honorable Mention for the 2024 Jon Gjerde Prize
His first book, Homesteading the Plains: Toward a New History, examines the Homestead Act of 1862, one of the most important social policies ever enacted in the United States.
Registration for the 2025 WWW Virtual Conference is open.
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