Speaker:
Martha S. Jones
Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and
Professor of History and the SNF Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University

Martha S. Jones is a legal and cultural historian whose work examines how black Americans have shaped the story of American democracy. She is the author of "Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All" (2020). Her 2018 book, "Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America" won the Organization of American Historians Liberty Legacy Award (best book in civil rights history), the American Historical Association Littleton-Griswold Prize (best book in American legal history), the American Society for Legal History John Phillip Reid book award (best book in Anglo-American legal history) and the Baltimore City Historical Society Scholars honor for 2020.

Professor Jones is a public historian, writing for the New York Times, Washington Post, the Atlantic, USA Today, Public Books, Talking Points Memo, Politico, the Chronicle of Higher Education and Time. She holds a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and a J.D. from the CUNY School of Law. Prior to her academic career, she was a public interest litigator in New York City.

Organized by:

• School of Humanities Dean’s Office
• Department of History
• Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality

For more information, email humanities@rice.edu