George and Ann RichardsCivil War Era Center

Dr. Abena Boakyewa-Ansah is an independent scholar, and a historian of US history with a specialized interest in Black women’s worlds, lives, and ideas of freedom in the Civil War era. Specializing in Civil War history, Boakyewa-Ansah’s research interests in African-American religious history, Black women’s intellectual landscape and feminist ideas, and innovative research methods for diving deeper into the interiority of the enslaved. She is the author of “Crafted ‘By Their Own Hands:’ The African American Religious Experience in Union-Occupied North Carolina, 1862-1865,” in the North Carolina Historical Review, in which she examined the emergence of the “invisible institution” into the visible stage of contraband camps during the Civil War. As an independent scholar passionate about fostering deep knowledge of Black history across culture, Abena has expanded her work outside of academia by continuing to write for public facing magazines and sharing her research and writing online. Her writing sits at the intersection of history, faith, and culture, elucidating historical roots of present social and political tensions, seeking to bridge the gap between academia and broader society. Boakyewa-Ansah’s current project, Freedom Was Their North Star: Formerly Enslaved Women’s Efforts to Secure and Define Freedom During the American Civil War, places enslaved women at the forefront of the battle for Black freedom, examining their wartime actions as those central to the making and defining of freedom during the Civil War.

Dr. Boakyewa-Ansah is committed to excellent pedagogy and building equitable access to higher education for historically marginalized communities. This commitment has led her to complete several fellowships including, the National Humanities Center’s Summer Residency in Meaningful Pedagogy (20210, a graduate fellowship at Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching (2020-2021), and the Nielsen Centers Junior Scholars Fellowship for Liberal Arts (2022-2023). Each of these fellowships have equipped Dr. Boakyewa-Ansah with the skills necessary to support marginalized students in the classroom, and build pathways for their success in higher education. As Education Specialist, Dr. Boakyewa-Ansah oversees the Catto Le Count program for emerging scholars interested in pursuing their PhD in history. Outside of the annual program, she facilitates sustained alumni community, connection, and support.