Austin Zinkle, Dr.

Adjunct Faculty

Dr. Austin Zinkle is a postdoctoral scholar affiliated with the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and the co-leader of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice-Kentucky (CRRJ-KY) Legal Clinic at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law. Working alongside D’lorah Hughes, Associate Clinical Professor of Law and Director of Clinics and Externships, Dr. Zinkle co-teaches the CRRJ-KY seminar and leads clinic students through historical analysis and rigorous archival research related to twentieth century Kentucky civil rights violations and the broader Black Freedom Struggle in its relationship to Kentucky history. 

Dr. Zinkle holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Kentucky and specializes in twentieth century United States political history. Since 2020, he has taught courses in Kentucky history, African American history, United States War and Society, and the United States history survey within the Department of History and the African American and African Studies Program. 

Originally from Knoxville, TN, Dr. Zinkle graduated from Auburn University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in history and a Master of Arts in history from the University of Kentucky in 2017. His earlier research explored African American youth activism in Kentucky within NAACP Youth Councils during the 1940s and 1950s. His Ph.D. dissertation continued a research interest on young people and detailed the rise and evolution of radical racist right youth activism during the 1960s and 1970s. Dr. Zinkle’s current book project examines white supremacist and neo-Nazi youth as part of the larger White Power Movement in the United States during the twentieth century.