Lecturer in American History

Contact Details

Biography

I studied as an undergraduate at the University of Warwick, completing a BA in History in 1999 that included a year at the University of South Carolina.  This sparked my interest in American History and I stayed at Warwick for an MA in the History of Race in the Americas.  I received my Ph.D. in 2004 from the University of Nottingham and was appointed the same year as a New Directions Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth.  After three years on the South Coast, I joined the School of Historical Studies and the Centre for American Studies at Leicester in 2007.

Over the past decade, my research has focused on issues of race and criminal justice in the United States from the slave period to the mid-twentieth century.  My current work includes a sweeping analysis of crime and punishment in African American history since U.S. independence and a study of African Americans and parole from the 1930s to the 1970s.  These projects are closely connected to my teaching, which includes modules on slavery in the U.S. and the Caribbean and crime and punishment in African American history.  My administrative roles are mostly based in the Centre for American Studies where I currently serve as Exams Officer.  Outside the University, I am secretary of the Association of British American Nineteenth Century Historians (BrANCH), for which I have organized two annual conferences in Leicester and Cambridge.

Research

• Research Interests
• Publications 

PhD Supervision

African American history of the United States in the nineteenth century, with particular focus on issues of race, slavery, crime and punishment. 

Teaching

• HS2346 The Civil War and Reconstruction in American History and Memory
• HS3661 Race and Slavery in the Americas: From the Age of Revolution to Emancipation
• HS3662 Race, Crime and Punishment in the United States: From Slavery to Freedom
• AM1004 United States History, 1776-1877

I also contribute to the following team- taught courses:

• AM1006 The American West
• AM2011 The American City 

Administrative Responsibilities

• Director of American Studies 

Most Recent Publications

1. “African Americans and Parole in Depression Era New York.” The Historical Journal (forthcoming, December 2011)
2. “African Americans in Southern Cities.” In Campbell and Fraser, eds. Reconstruction: People and Perspectives in American Social History. (ABC-CLIO, 2008).
3. Slavery on Trial: Race, Class, and Criminal Justice in Antebellum Richmond, Virginia (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007)