Curriculum Vitae

Education

Ph.D., U.S. History
George Mason University, 2020
Dissertation: “Birthing A Nation: Enslaved Women and Midwifery in Early America, 1750-1820”

M.A., U.S. History
George Mason University, 2016

B.A., History
University of Texas at Austin, 2013

Teaching and Research Fields

US History, Early America, Slavery in the Atlantic World, Digital and Public History, Women and Gender, History of Medicine

Academic and Research Positions

Clemson University

Research Assistant Professor, Woodland Cemetery and the African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project and Department of History and Geography, Clemson University, November 2023 – Present.

Postdoctoral Fellow in University History, Woodland Cemetery and the African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project and Department of History and Geography, Clemson University, August 2020 – November 2023.

George Mason University

Graduate Research Assistant, Education Projects, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University, 2015 – 2019.

Graduate Assistant and Website Manager, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Faculty Community, George Mason University, 2018 – 2019.

Teaching Assistant, Department of History and Art History, George Mason University, 2013 – 2015.

National Women’s History Museum

Education Research Intern, National Women’s History Museum, Alexandria, VA, January – April 2019.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon

Graduate Research Assistant and Historical Database Intern, Digital Humanities, Historic Preservation and Collections Department, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, August 2014  – May 2016.

Publications

Book Manuscript in Progress

Birthing A Nation: Enslaved Women and Midwifery in Early America

Chapters in Edited Volumes

“Building a Relational Database to Explore Enslaved Midwives’ Work in Early America,” in American Revolutions in the Digital Age, eds. Mark Boonshoft, Nora Slonimsky, and Ben Wright. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, forthcoming 2024. 

“The Labors of Enslaved Midwives in Revolutionary Virginia,” in Women in the American Revolution: Gender, Politics, and the Domestic World, edited by Barbara Oberg. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019.

Digital Publications

George Washington’s Midwives: The Economics of Childbirth under Slavery,” in Lapham’s Quarterly, June 19, 2019.

“Digital Storytelling: Presenting History in New Ways,” Blog post with Andrew Salamone, National Trust for Historic Preservation Forum Blog, November 1, 2017.

Digital and Public History Projects

Woodland Cemetery and the African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project at Clemson University, Postdoctoral Fellow, August 2020-Present.

World History Commons, Project Associate, RRCHNM, August 2018-August 2019 and May 2020-Present. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Maritime Asia: War and Trade, Research Associate, RRCHNM, August 2018-August 2019.

Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of WWII Online Exhibit, Curator, National Women’s History Museum and Google Cultural Institute, January-April 2019.

The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Project Manager, RRCHNM, December 2017-December 2018. Funded by the Australian Research Council.

Teachinghistory.org Website Refresh, Project Manager, RRCHNM, January-September 2018.

Eagle Eye Citizen, Senior Content Developer and Outreach Associate, RRCHNM, 2016-2017. Funded by the Library of Congress.

Digital Humanities Now, Editor-At-Large, RRCHNM, 2016-2017.

Mount Vernon Teacher Professional Development Toolkit, Research Associate, RRCHNM, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, 2016.

Hidden in Plain Sight: Online Teacher Recertification Course, Program Associate, RRCHNM, Spring 2017. Funded by the Virginia Department of Education.

American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) Burials Database ReDesign, Research Assistant, RRCHNM, Summer 2015.

“Social Network of the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon, 1754-1799,” data visualization created for the “Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon” exhibit at Mount Vernon, October 2016.

“Finding Kate” digital story of an enslaved midwife on Mount Vernon, December 2014.

Database of Mount Vernon’s Enslaved Community, Intern and Graduate Research Assistant, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, 2014-2016.

Teaching Experience

Instructor

HIST 3890, Creative Inquiry in History: The Cemetery Preservation and Memorial Project, Clemson University, Fall 2021-Fall 2023.

Teaching Assistant

Hidden in Plain Sight, Online Teacher Recertification Course, George Mason University, January 2017-April 2017.

History 100: Western Civilization, George Mason University, August 2015 – December 2015.

History 121: Formation of the American Republic, George Mason University, August 2014 – May 2015.

History 122: Making of Modern America, George Mason University, August 2014 – May 2015.

History 100: Western Civilization, George Mason University, August 2013 – May 2014.

Workshops

Building and Managing Datasets for Digital Public History Projects with Airtable, with Amanda Regan, Digital Public History Lab, National Council on Public History Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, April 12, 2023.

The Cemetery as Text: Using Historic Cemeteries to Teach History, Public Engagement, and Service-Learning, Historic Cemeteries Research Symposium, Clemson University, October 24, 2022.

Enslaved Women in 18th Century Virginia, Just for Educators Workshop, George Mason’s Gunston Hall, August 14, 2019.

Graffiti Houses: The Civil War from the Perspective of Individual Soldiers, An NEH Landmarks in American History and Culture Workshop for Teachers, Teaching Assistant, George Mason University, June and July 2016.

Guest Lectures

Rachael at Monticello: Using Digital Tools to Recover Histories of Enslaved Midwives in Early America, HIST 3180: History of American Women, Clemson University, October 18, 2023.

Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground: Researching Histories and Practicing Community Engagement, HIST 3060: Public History, Augusta University, October 26, 2022.

Birthing A Nation: Enslaved Women and Midwifery in Revolutionary America, HIST 3010: American Revolution and the New Nation, Clemson University, October 17, 2022.

Relational Databases and Historical Research, HIST 8500: Digital Methods for History I Graduate Course, Clemson University, October 12, 2022.

Digital Archives for Researching Historic Cemeteries, ENG 1030: Service-Learning Project for Woodland Cemetery, Clemson University, October 4, 2022.

Rachael at Monticello: Enslaved Women and Midwifery in Antebellum America, HIST 3180: History of American Women, Clemson University, September 14, 2022.

Woodland Cemetery and the African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project, HIST 1010: US History to 1877, Clemson University, April 7, 2022.

Content Management Systems, HIST 8500: Digital Methods for History I Graduate Course, Clemson University, September 28, 2021.

Digital Sources for Studying Slavery, HIST 4900: Global History of Slavery, Clemson University, January 27, 2021.

Primary Sources and Midwifery, Honors 240: Mason’s Legacies, George Mason University, February 25, 2020.

Omeka and Building Online Exhibits, History 390: The Digital Past, George Mason University, June 19, 2019.

Perspectives on Digital Storytelling, History 390: The Digital Past, George Mason University, November 14, 2018.

Conference Activity

“Recovering the Multi-layered Histories of Cemetery Hill at Clemson,” with student Alexis Thomas, Historic Cemeteries Research Symposium, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, October 25, 2022.

“‘The children of her daughters’: The Life and Work of Betsey Bailey, An Enslaved Midwife in Early America,” Southern Association for Women Historians (SAWH) Triennial Conference, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, June 12, 2022.

“Building a Relational Database to Explore Enslaved Midwives’ Work on Early Southern Plantations,” Material and Digital Approaches to Labor, Health, and the Political Ecology of Slavery, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Annual Conference, June 18, 2021.

“Revolutionary Labors: Creating a Relational Database to Explore Enslaved Midwives’ Work in Early America,” The Age of Revolutions in the Digital Age Workshop and Symposium, Iona College, New Rochelle, New York, September 11-12, 2020 (held virtually due to Covid-19).

“‘Paid the midwife (Rachael)’: Enslaved Women and the Business of Childbirth on Early Southern Plantations,” Roundtable on Slavery at the Intersection of Medical Labor, Geography, and Environmental Risk in Early America, Front Range Early American Consortium Annual Conference, Denver, CO, October 12, 2019.

“Eagle Eye Citizen: Online Civics Interactive,” Teaching with Primary Sources Poster Session, National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Conference, Chicago, IL, November 30, 2018.

“Metacognition and Media: Developing Students’ Critical Thinking Skills,” American Federation of Teachers Share My Lesson Virtual Conference, March 15, 2018.

“Eagle Eye Citizen: Online Engagement with Civics,” Middle State Council for the Social Studies (MSCSS) Conference, Tysons Corner, VA, March 2-3, 2018.

“Eagle Eye Citizen: Exploring Civics, History, and Primary Sources,” SOURCES Annual Conference, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, January 27, 2018.

“Eagle Eye Citizen: Interactive Engagement with Civics and History,” International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference, San Antonio, Texas, June 28, 2017.

“Eagle Eye Citizen: Teaching Civics and History Using Primary Sources,” with Jessica Kilday, National Council for History Education (NCHE) conference, Atlanta, Georgia, March 31, 2017.

“Digital Storytelling: Communicating Academic Research Beyond the Classroom,” with Dr. Kelly Schrum, Beth Dalbec, and Matt Boyce, Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference, Fairfax, VA, September 22, 2017.

Teaching Graduate Students to Code,” contributor to poster session with Dr. Lincoln Mullen, Peter Carr Jones, Jannelle Legg, Anne Ladyem McDivitt, Dr. George D. Oberle III, and Amanda Regan, January 2015, American Historical Association (AHA) conference, New York.

Campus and Community Talks

“Mapping Clemson History,” with Drs. Joshua Catalano, Andrea Feeser, and Rhondda R. Thomas, Clemson University, January 24, 2022.

“Enslaved Women and Midwifery in Virginia and Maryland, 1750-1830″ Burke Historical Society, Burke, Virginia, February 23, 2020.

“Birthing A Nation: Enslaved Women and Midwifery in Early America,” Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, Mount Vernon, Virginia, May 9, 2019.

“Birthing A Nation: Enslaved Midwives in the Revolutionary Chesapeake,” Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution Meeting, Fairfax Station, Virginia, December 8,  2018.

“Birthing A Nation: Enslaved Women and Midwifery in Early America, 1750-1820,” Virginia Historical Society, June 6, 2018.

“Re-Interpreting Slavery in Eighteenth-Century Virginia,” George Mason’s Gunston Hall, Lorton, Virginia, March 8, 2018.

“Digital Pedagogy,” with Dr. Kelly Schrum and Andrew Salamone, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, April 3, 2017.

“Interpreting Slavery in Eighteenth-Century Virginia,” George Mason’s Gunston Hall, Lorton, Virginia, October 20, 2016.

“Finding Kate: A Digital Story,” George Mason University and Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media: Graduate Student Digital Projects, Fairfax, December 8, 2014

Awards and Fellowships

Finalist, Dissertation Prize, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR), 2021

Dissertation Completion Fellowship, George Mason University, 2019-2020.

Research Fellowship, Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, Mount Vernon, 2018-2019.

Mellon Research Fellowship, Virginia Historical Society, 2018.

Provost’s Summer Research Fellowship, George Mason University, Summer 2018.

Joseph and Dorothy Censer Fellowship, George Mason University, 2018.

Cosmos Scholars Award, Cosmos Club Foundation, 2018.

Archie K. Davis Fellowship for Dissertation Research, North Caroliniana Society, 2017-2018.

Louise and Rudolf Fishel New Media Fellowship, George Mason University, Summer 2017.

Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association 500 Sustained Service Hours Award, May 2016.

Scott Chamberlain Memorial Presidential Endowed Scholarship, University of Texas at Austin, 2012-2013.

Alla Ray Morris Endowed Presidential Scholarship, University of Texas at Austin, Spring 2011.

Digital Humanities Skills

Programming/Web Development Languages: R with R Studio, HTML and CSS

Content Management Systems and Web Publishing: WordPress, Drupal, Omeka, Cascade (introductory level)

Relational Database Management: Microsoft Access, Omeka S, Airtable

Mapping: Basic maps in ArcGIS Online and Georeferencing in ArcGIS Pro (introductory level)

Digital Storytelling and Visualization Tools: ArcGIS Storymaps, Final Cut Pro X, iMovie, Canva, Pixlr, Photoshop, InDesign, TimelineJS, JuxtaposeJS, Voyant

Service

Research Advisory Council, Patrick Henry’s Red Hill, 2021-Present

Professional Affiliations

Member, American Historical Association
Member, Southern Historical Association
Member, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic
Member, Association for the Study of African American Life and History
Member, National Council on Public History