Edda L. Fields-Black

Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black is Professor in the Department of History and Director of the Dietrich College Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon University. She has been a faculty member since 2001 and serves as Faculty Advisor for Carnegie Mellon's African and African American Studies Minor. Her work bridges academic research with public engagement, bringing untold stories of enslaved Africans and their descendants to broader audiences through innovative interdisciplinary collaborations.

Dr. Fields-Black earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001. Her academic journey has focused on connecting historical research with contemporary social issues, particularly through the lens of African diasporic experiences and the legacy of slavery in the United States.

Dr. Fields-Black specializes in the trans-national history of West African rice farmers, peasant farmers in pre-colonial Upper Guinea Coast, and enslaved laborers on rice plantations in the antebellum South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry. Her research employs interdisciplinary methods to recover the voices of historical actors who left few written records. She examines how enslaved Africans' technological expertise in rice cultivation shaped both the economies of the American South and cultural practices that persist in the Gullah Geechee communities. Her work challenges conventional narratives about pre-colonial Africa and the African Diaspora, revealing dynamic, diverse societies with specialized agricultural knowledge.

Dr. Fields-Black's recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on uncovering previously marginalized perspectives in American history, particularly regarding slavery and the Civil War era. Her work increasingly integrates environmental history with social history, examining how enslaved people interacted with and transformed coastal landscapes. The 2024 publication 'COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War' represents the culmination of this trajectory, using Civil War pension files to reconstruct the experiences of freedom-seekers in their own words.

Dr. Fields-Black has received numerous prestigious awards for her scholarship, including:

• 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History
• 2025 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize
• 2025 Tom Watson Brown Book Award
• 2024 George C. Rogers Jr. Award
• 2024 Marsha M. Greenlee History Award
• Honorable Mention - 2025 James A. Rawley Prize
• Finalist - 2025 Mark Lynton History Prize
• Finalist - 2025 ASALH Book Prize

Dr. Fields-Black has secured significant research funding from major foundations including Ford, Mellon, Woodrow Wilson, and Annenberg Foundations, as well as the Smithsonian Museum and Fulbright-Hays. She currently leads an interdisciplinary team of scientists studying 'Queen Rice': How Enslaved Labor Transformed Wetland Landscapes and America,' examining the 300-year impact of enslaved labor on coastal wetlands. Her work extends beyond traditional academic boundaries through collaborations with artists, filmmakers, and museum curators to bring historical narratives to wider audiences.

Dr. Fields-Black leads the 'Requiem for Rice' project, an innovative collaboration with composer John Wineglass and filmmaker Julie Dash that transforms historical research into a symphonic work memorializing enslaved Africans on rice plantations. She also serves as principal investigator for a team of scientists studying the environmental impact of enslaved labor on coastal wetlands, integrating archaeology, conservation, digital humanities, and ecological studies. Her work with museums includes advising for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Senator John Heinz History Center, and the International African American Museum.