My primary research interests in general are 18th to 19th century African American history, particularly focused on free people of African descent prior to the Civil War, race relations, and American women's history. My current book project, Contested Freedom: Movement and Gendered Violence among Free People of Color in Natchez, Mississippi, 1779-1865, is under contract with the University Press of Georgia. My work examines how freedom, movement, and gendered violence were inextricably linked for free people of color in Natchez across multiple generations from the era of Spanish colonial rule (1779-1795) until the demise of slavery in 1865. I am also developing a database on this population of people in collaboration with Michigan State University’s Matrix.

Names of HAPP colleagues working in these sub-fields and related projects: Brian Kelly, Keira Williams