My research interests firmly lie in antebellum African American history. I am captivated by stories of resistance in the face of racial oppression and repression in U.S. history.
Latest Work
Brooding Over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women's Lethal Resistance (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
“From the colonial through the antebellum era, enslaved women in the US used lethal force as the ultimate form of resistance. By amplifying their voices and experiences, Brooding over Bloody Revenge strongly challenges assumptions that enslaved women only participated in covert, non-violent forms of resistance, when in fact they consistently seized justice for themselves and organized toward revolt.”
Scholarship and Research Interests
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Driven Toward Madness: The Fugitive Slave Margaret Garner and Tragedy on the Ohio (Ohio University Press, 2016)
“Margaret Garner was the runaway slave who, when confronted with capture just outside of Cincinnati, slit the throat of her toddler daughter rather than have her face a life in slavery. Her story has inspired Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a film based on the novel starring Oprah Winfrey, and an opera. Yet, her life has defied solid historical treatment.”
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America's First Black Socialist: The Radical Life of Peter H. Clark (University Press of Kentucky, 2012)
“Growing up in the free state of Ohio before the Civil War, Peter H. Clark dedicated himself to the abolitionist cause. In pursuit of equal citizenship for African Americans, Clark was at various times a loyal supporter of the Republican Party, and an advocate for the Democrats, and the country's first black socialist. Clark led the fight for African Americans' access to Ohio's public schools and became the first black principal in the state.”
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Frontiers of Freedom: Cincinnati's Black Community, 1802-1868 (Ohio University Press, 2005)
“Nineteenth-century Cincinnati was northern in its geography, southern in its economy and politics, and western in its commercial aspirations. While those identities presented a crossroad of opportunity for native whites and immigrants, African Americans endured economic repression and a denial of civil rights, compounded by extreme and frequent mob violence. No other northern city rivaled Cincinnati's vicious mob spirit. Frontiers of Freedom follows the black community as it moved from alienation and vulnerability in the 1820s toward collective consciousness and, eventually, political self-respect and self-determination.”