As a historian of Latin America, with an emphasis on Mexico, the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, and class are integral to my research as is the interrogation of power relationships. Dedicated to exploring the hidden agency of 19th century women, I recently finished the biography of Juana Catarina Romero, a mestiza (mixed race indigenous and Spanish), who rose from poverty to become an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and modernizing political boss in southern Mexico. This study, in turn, sparked an interest in the theory and methodology of feminist biography, which is one of my current topics of research.
Anastasia Curwood’s scholarship centers on the history of Black women’s advocacy and activism in the twentieth century. Her current project is a biography of U.S. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.
I am fascinated by identity and how Americans define themselves along race, gender, and myriad other lines. I am especially interested in women’s reform efforts at the turn-of-the-twentieth century and the ways rigidly defined gender roles both fueled and limited women’s attempts to transform their communities. I am drawn to organizations and reform movements that creatively and strategically leveraged women’s expected role as a springboard to new opportunity and to rethink what a woman should be and do.
Kathryn Newfont is interested in the intersections of gender, race, and environment, especially in the history of the U.S. Mountain South.
I am a Russian and Soviet historian who has worked on issues of gender in mass dictatorships and on gendered representations in wartime and in war memory, especially focusing on soldierly masculinity.
Gerald Smith studies twentieth century Kentucky African American history.
I use the lens of black organizational life to examine modern Black history, sports history, and intellectual history.