Emma Amador

Dr. Emma Amador is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Connecticut (Storrs campus), affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Her work focuses on Puerto Rican and U.S. Latina/o/x history, gender studies, and social justice. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Michigan, an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from UConn, and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College.

Her research examines Puerto Rican women’s activism in social welfare, labor movements, and community organizing. Key projects include The Politics of Care Work: Puerto Rican Women Organizing for Social Justice (Duke UP, 2025) and a biography of civil rights leader Antonia Pantoja. Amador’s scholarship appears in Journal of American Ethnic History, LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History, and Modern American History.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. in History, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
  • MA in Latin American & Caribbean Studies, UConn
  • BA, Sarah Lawrence College

Amador has received over a dozen grants and awards, including the JEDI Initiative Research Award and fellowships from the Ford Foundation and Rackham Graduate School. Her work bridges academic research with community engagement, emphasizing the centrality of caregiving labor in social justice movements.

She currently serves as a faculty member in Wood Hall, Room 314, and her research explores intersections of race, gender, and migration. Amador’s upcoming projects include studies on Puerto Rican women’s activism in the U.S. and the legacy of Antonia Pantoja in Ethnic Studies.