I am a historian specializing in the study of the Native South; families and kinship; federal Indian policy; women, gender and sexuality in the United States; and sexual violence.
In 2006, I earned my Ph.D. in American History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Wake Forest University, I joined the faculty of the Departments of History and American Indian Studies and the Gender Studies Program at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. There, I developed my passion for integrating the classroom and the archives, mentoring student research, team teaching, and community-driven collaboration. After a decade, I left UNCP for the Departments of History and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Davidson College, where I currently am an associate professor.
I’m an award-winning educator who is unafraid to teach “hard history.” I train others in historical methods because she believes the study of the past can nurture community in the present and build a better future for us all.
When not working with students and primary sources, I enjoy the company of giant fluffy dogs. For over a dozen years, I have been one of the humans behind Carolina Great Pyrenees Rescue and have helped save over a thousand lives.