George and Ann RichardsCivil War Era Center

Colored Conventions
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

In partnership with Penn State’s Africana Research Center, the Richards Center established a competitive, one-year postdoctoral fellowship in 2012. The fellowship rewards recently graduated Ph.D.s studying aspects of the African American experience from slavery to Civil Rights.

Since 2020, Penn State’s College of the Liberal ArtsDepartment of History, and the Richards Center have hosted a second Center-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship (in addition to our joint RCWEC/ARC fellowship). The fellowship rewards recently graduated Ph.D.s studying aspects of the Civil War Era, particularly focusing on slavery and emancipation.

Both fellowships are one year with the possibility of renewal for a second year. While in residence, the fellows have access to the Center’s professional resources, receive guidance from a mentor, and participate in a series of professional development workshops. The fellows will present their research to the graduate community and will invite senior scholars in their field to the university to review and comment on their work.

https://richardscenter.la.psu.edu/fellowships/past-postdoctoral-fellows/


Application and Submission Process

Successful applicants must have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. within the previous four academic years. Salary/benefit package is competitive.

To be considered for this position, submit a complete application packet including a cover letter describing your research and goals for the scholarship year, a curriculum vita, and a list of three references. We will request writing samples and letters of recommendation from candidates who advance in the search process. Successful candidates must either have demonstrated a commitment to building an inclusive, equitable, and diverse campus community, or describe one or more ways they would envision doing so, given the opportunity.

Review of materials will begin November 15, 2023, and continue until the position has been filled. Please direct questions about the process via e-mail to richardscenter@psu.edu.

Postdoctoral Scholar, African American History

The Richards Center and the Africana Research Center invite applications for a postdoctoral scholar in African American history, beginning July 1, 2024. This is a one-year position, with a high possibility of renewal for a second year. All research interests spanning the origins of slavery through the civil rights movement will receive favorable consideration. Proposals that align with the Richards Center’s interests in slavery, abolition, and emancipation are especially welcome. During their residency, the scholar will have no teaching or administrative responsibilities. In addition, they will attend workshops, professional development sessions and other relevant events, and will be expected to take an active part in Penn State’s community of researchers.

For more information and how to apply, see here.

Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil War Era

The Richards Civil War Era Center, in conjunction with the Department of History and the College of the Liberal Arts, invites applications for a postdoctoral scholar in the history of the Civil War Era, beginning July 1, 2024. This is a one-year position, with a high possibility of renewal for a second year. All research interests spanning the pre-war period through Reconstruction will receive favorable consideration. Proposals that align with the Richards Center’s interests in slavery, abolition, and emancipation are especially welcome. During their residency, the scholar will have no teaching or administrative responsibilities. They will attend workshops, professional development sessions and other relevant events, and will be expected to take an active part in Penn State’s community of researchers.

For more information and how to apply, see here.

Brooke Alexis Thomas, 2023-2024 Postdoctoral Scholar

Brooke Alexis Thomas received her Ph.D. in History from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and specializes in twentieth century African American History, focusing on Black women’s history, African American organizing, and African American formal politics. Her dissertation “To Capture a Vision Fair:” Black Sorority Women and the Shift From Respectability Politics to Public Policy, 1935-1975,” explores the ways in which members of Black colligate sororities strategically pivoted their ideologies and programming, beginning in the 1930s, to build upon legacies of uplift and respectability and move beyond them to a combination that envisioned a greater partnership with the federal government to propel the long Black freedom struggle. This project explores the ways in which Black sorority women began to think more broadly about public policy and the ways the state could further support the needs of African Americans, particularly around issues of employment, economic justice, health, and full political inclusion and representation as a part of a persistent and consistent effort to shape United States politics and policies, make the state accountable to the needs of Black people, and expand the professional opportunities for a new cadre of Black women political leaders. Brooke received her BA in history from Spelman College and her MA in history from the University of South Alabama. Her work has been supported by The Institute for Citizens and Scholars, Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, and the Mellon Foundation.

Brooke Thomas

Nicole Viglini, 2023-2024 Postdoctoral Scholar

Nicole Viglini received her PhD in history from University of California, Berkeley, and specializes in nineteenth-century U.S. histories of slavery, capitalism, gender, and legal cultural histories. Nicole’s dissertation, “‘She is a very smart woman and a great trader’: Enslaved and Free Women’s Economic Strategies and Gendered Geographies of Credit in the Nineteenth-Century South,” foregrounds enslaved and free Black women’s skills, knowledge, and survival strategies, and shows how antebellum southern women claimed property and credit to define their belonging within their communities. Her project centers the testimony of propertied Black women who filed claims to compensation before the Southern Claims Commission (SCC), a federal organization created in 1871 to reimburse unionist southerners in seceded states for property confiscated by the U.S. Army during the Civil War. At the Richards Center, Nicole will focus on turning her dissertation into a book manuscript and will begin a digital project to bring visibility to the lives and livelihoods of the Black women who filed SCC claims. Nicole’s work has been supported by several institutions, including the American Historical Association, the Wilson Library at UNC Chapel Hill, and the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University.

Nicole Viglini

Postdoctoral Fellowship Funding

These postdoctoral fellowships are made possible by the generous support of Steven and Janice Brose, Robert and Bonnie Hammel, Karen Gold, Ted and Tracy Winfree McCourtney, Bill and Donna Oliver, Mark and Ann Persun, Howell and Sandy Rosenberg, and Alice Schmidt. The fellowships significantly enhance the Center’s position as a national leader in advancing innovative scholarship in the Civil War era. Focused on African American history, these fellowships promote research in a traditionally under-studied aspect of the history of this period.

Past Postdoctoral Fellows