Dr. Kaisha Esty, '“Live as Becomes a Free Christian Woman”: Freedwomen and State-Sanctioned Reform in the Era of Emancipation'
About this episode
Dr. Kaisha Esty discusses her research on the lives of African American women during the transition from slavery to emancipation.
Please note that this episode contains discussion of sexual violence. This week, PhD candidates Sam Lanevi and Megan Renoir sit down with Dr. Kaisha Esty to discuss her current research project. Dr. Esty is Assistant Professor of History, African American Studies, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She’s on sabbatical this year as an AAUW postdoctoral fellow and resident fellow at the Rothermere American Institute. Her work explores the lives of African American women in the nineteenth century, during the transition from slavery to emancipation. She focuses on the strategies and values that shaped their intimate lives and sense of self, situating these within the broader context of U.S. nation building and westward expansion. The article Kaisha refers to is linked here: Kaisha Esty, ““I Told Him to Let Me Alone, That He Hurt Me”: Black Women and Girls and the Battle over Labor and Sexual Consent in Union-Occupied Territory,” Labor (2022) 19 (1): 32–51. https://doi.org/10.1215/15476715-9475702 Co-hosts: Megan Renoir (PhD Candidate) researches the history of US land institutions, 19th and 20th century federal Indian policy, and…
People in this episode
Hosts: Megan Renoir, Sam Lanevi
Guest: Dr. Kaisha Esty
Topics covered
- Freedwomen
- Emancipation
- African American women
- Nineteenth century history
- Intimate lives
- U.S. nation building
- Westward expansion
Keywords
- freedwomen
- emancipation
- African American history
- nineteenth century
- sexual violence
- intimate lives
- U.S. history
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Wesleyan University, Rothermere American Institute, Labor
Books & works: “I Told Him to Let Me Alone, That He Hurt Me”: Black Women and Girls and the Battle over Labor and Sexual Consent in Union-Occupied Territory
More episodes of Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast
- Dr. Caroline Johnston, 'Rocky Mountain Extractivism in Washington'
- Dr. Patrick Griffin, 'The American Revolution and Global Empire'
- Prof. David Farber, 'The War on Drugs'
- Dr. Erin Shearer, 'Enslaved Women, Infanticide, and a Feminist History of Harm: A New Direction in Slavery Studies'
- Prof. Eliga Gould, 'Union and Disunion: The Turbulent History of the United States' Founding Treaty'
- Dr. Kathleen Belew, ‘Thoughts and Prayers: America in the Age of Mass Violence’
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast podcast page.