Mary Hicks

Mary Hicks is an Associate Professor of History and the College at the University of Chicago, specializing in Black Atlantic history with a focus on transnational histories of race, slavery, capitalism, migration, and the early modern world. Her research examines enslaved and freed Black seamen’s roles in shaping South Atlantic slavery and cultural exchanges between West Africa and Brazil.

• B.A., University of Iowa
• Ph.D., University of Virginia (2015)

Her research interests include slavery and emancipation, early modern capitalism, colonialism, and the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality. She explores how Black mariners and enslaved women influenced political, economic, and cultural dynamics in Salvador da Bahia and the Bight of Benin. Her first book, Captive Cosmopolitans, redefines the Portuguese colonial narrative through Black seamen’s perspectives.

Recent publications analyze West African textile entrepreneurship and financial mechanisms of the Luso-Atlantic slave trade. Awards include the Southern Historical Association’s Dissertation Prize and recognition from the CGS/ProQuest Awards.

• Grants/Fellowships: Jefferson Fellowship, Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, Mamolen Fellowship

Her ongoing work examines gendered and racialized subjectivities in early Portuguese trade with West Africa. She has contributed to edited volumes like 400 Souls and reviewed major works in slavery studies for Black Perspectives.