Biography

My research centers upon social constructions of race, community social hierarchies, and identity in eighteenth and nineteenth century America. I am especially fascinated with studying the complex interplay of race and culture in the antebellum South. My first book, Freedom Has a Face: Race, Identity, and Community in Jefferson's Albemarle, 1780-1865, came out with the University of Virginia Press in 2012. I have also begun research for a second book-length project examining the history of a nineteenth century interracial island fishing community in coastal Maine. Additionally, I am very excited to be co-chairing the UVa President's Commission on Slavery and the University. Those scholarly interests grew out of my experience as an undergraduate history major here at the University of Virginia, where so many of my professors challenged and inspired me as a thinker and scholar both inside and outside the classroom. I am very excited to have returned to UVa and to have the opportunity to guide current University students as they discover and pursue their own academic interests.