I am a historian and writer focusing on the American South. A native of Kentucky, I grew up with a keen awareness of the racial dividing lines operating around me but unsure of how or why they existed. I’ve spent much of my life trying to figure them out.

My work explores the traumatic histories of race and violence in the American past. My first book, Beyond Redemption, revealed how the protracted violence of the Civil War shaped Americans’ understanding of citizenship and national belonging, giving rise to a political culture that embraced violence as a necessary crucible of freedom. My latest book, To Walk About in Freedom: The Long Emancipation of Priscilla Joyner, explores the lived experiences of freedom’s charter generation – the people who were born in slavery but who came of age during the tumultuous period of war and Reconstruction.

My writing on these and other issues related to racial politics in America have appeared in the New York Times and Washington Post, among other outlets. I am currently a professor of history at the University at Buffalo. As a first-generation college student, the success of this important but often overlooked group on America’s campuses is close to my heart. I am to thrilled to be a part of UB’s “Proud to Be First” initiative to connect, support, and guide first-generation students in their college journey.

Photo by Dea Lea