معرفی
Laura F. Edwards is the Peabody Family Distinguished Professor of History and Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies at Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. Her scholarship centers on women, gender, law, and society in the nineteenth-century United States, with a particular focus on the American South.
Education: (Specific degrees not provided in the text)
Research Interests:
- Legal history of the U.S. South
- Gender and sexuality studies
- Women’s labor and economic agency
- Reconstruction-era law and society
- Textiles, commerce, and material culture in the nineteenth century
Across four major monographs and dozens of peer-reviewed articles, Edwards has illuminated how women—especially African American and white southern women—negotiated legal structures that sought to define and constrain their roles. Her forthcoming book, Only the Clothes on Her Back: Women, Textiles, and National Development in the Nineteenth-Century United States, extends this inquiry into the intersection of gender, textiles, and the law.
Major Honors & Fellowships:
- Charles Sydnor Prize (Southern Historical Association)
- Littleton-Griswold Prize (American Historical Association)
- Guggenheim Fellowship
- Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Humanities Center, Newberry Library, American Bar Foundation, and Smithsonian Institution
Doctoral Advising: Professor Edwards has directed the dissertations of twelve students, including Treva Lindsay, Felicity B. Turner, and Kelly M. Kennington. Her current advisees include Meggan Farish, Ryan M. Poe, Valerie C. Wade, Ashley Young, Samanthis Smalls, Jeannine Cole, Emily H. Margolis, Cynthia R. Greenlee, and Heidi Giusto.
Laboratories & Research Teams: While explicit laboratory information is not provided, Edwards works within Duke’s rich interdisciplinary environment in History, Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, collaborating with colleagues across the humanities and law.
