Research

My publications so far have centered on the history of American abolitionism and transatlantic reform. I am currently working on two research projects: first, a book-length microhistory of Henrietta Wood, a free woman who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the antebellum period, but sued her kidnapper in federal court after emancipation, and second, an article-length study on how state policy in Confederate Texas during the Civil War impacted the origins of Jim Crow and convict leasing there. My notes for both projects are available in an open-access wiki. The posts on this page generally cover my research talks, information about smaller writing projects, and my thoughts on new projects as they develop.

Posts

• The Dangers of a Fake Tubman Quote | March 22, 2016
• Beyond Failure: Rethinking Confederate State Policies on the Western Frontier | August 21, 2015
• Lewis Perry’s Civil Disobedience | April 28, 2015
• Slave Sales on Twitter | November 15, 2014
• Remembering Henry: Refugeed Slaves in Civil War Texas | April 13, 2014
• Mining the BPL Anti-Slavery Collection on the Internet Archive | October 1, 2013
• How Many Slaves Were Refugeed to Confederate Texas? | June 25, 2013
• Open Notebook History | May 22, 2013
• The Abolitionists on PBS | January 15, 2013
• The Lives of Frederick Douglass | January 9, 2013
• Before Juneteenth: The Emancipation Proclamation in Texas | September 25, 2012
• Trusting the Water Cure | July 24, 2012
• Introduction to My Book | July 10, 2012
• Dick Dowling and the Battle of Sabine Pass: The View from Emancipation Park | May 2, 2012
• Wendell Phillips and the “Ever-Restless Ocean” of Democracy | May 26, 2011
• The Digital Early Republic | April 7, 2011
• New light on a Lincoln quote | April 2, 2011
• The Case of John L. Brown | March 9, 2011
• Transnational History and the Civil War Era | October 27, 2010
• In Search of John Brown’s Timbucto, Part II | September 3, 2010
• In Search of John Brown’s Timbucto, Part I | August 11, 2010