Sarah Pearsall

Sarah Pearsall is Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, specializing in early American history with focus on revolutionary era, Atlantic world connections, and intimate lives.

Her scholarship examines family networks, gender dynamics, and household structures in colonial contexts. Pearsall earned her PhD from Harvard University and has received fellowships from NEH, Huntington Library, and British Academy.

Research explores:

• Transatlantic family networks
• Marriage practices in colonial societies
• Gender and power in revolutionary contexts
• Caribbean-colonial connections

Publications include award-winning Atlantic Families and Polygamy: An Early American History examining plural marriage from 16th-19th centuries.