About
Amy Cools is a Research Fellow in the Humanities Department at Northumbria University. Her work focuses on the history of ideas, African American and United States history (particularly the antebellum era), civil rights movements, biographical studies of historical figures, and the intersection of ethics and law. She holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh (2018–2021), an MSc from the same institution (2017–2018), a BA in Philosophy from California State University Sacramento (2011–2012), and an associate degree in Humanities from Riverside City College (1995–2000).
Her current projects include compiling The Complete Collected Works of James McCune Smith and writing a biography titled Nothing Human is Alien to Me: The Life of James McCune Smith. Cools has conducted extensive research on James McCune Smith, a 19th-century African American physician and intellectual, exploring his Glasgow education, medical activism, and transatlantic influences. Her work contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) by illuminating marginalized historical narratives.
Cools has published widely on topics such as Reconstruction-era politics, Frederick Douglass, and African American community leadership. She has presented her research globally, including a 2022 oral presentation on McCune Smith’s Glasgow experiences. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges historical analysis, biography, and ethical inquiry, emphasizing underrepresented voices in intellectual history.
