Linford D. Fisher

Linford D. Fisher is Associate Professor of History at Brown University, specializing in colonial America and the Atlantic world. His research centers on Native American and African slavery, religious history, material culture, and indigenous studies. He is affiliated with the Department of History and contributes to interdisciplinary initiatives including the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice and the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.

His educational background includes a PhD from Harvard University (2008), an MA from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (2002), and a BS from Lancaster Bible College (1999). Fisher’s scholarly work bridges religious studies, ethnohistory, and colonial legal systems, particularly in the context of early American enslavement and conversion.

Fisher’s research explores the cultural and religious transformations of Native American communities during the colonial era, especially through movements like the Great Awakening. He investigates the intersections of race, religion, and servitude, with a focus on how indigenous peoples navigated colonial pressures. His work also includes decoding historical manuscripts, such as Roger Williams’ shorthand, and analyzing the material and textual legacies of early American missions.

His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward documenting and theorizing Indigenous enslavement across the Americas. Themes include the legal frameworks of slavery, the voices of enslaved individuals, religious conversion as both coercion and resistance, and the longue durée of Native unfreedom. His interdisciplinary approach integrates archival research, digital humanities, and collaborative scholarship.

• Harold R. Swearer Center Engaged Faculty Award for Research (2023)
• Faculty Fellow, Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (2021–present)
• Faculty Fellow, The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology (2017)
• Faculty Associate, Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (2016)
• Henry Merritt Wriston Fellowship, Brown University (2014–2015)
• Imagine Brown 250+ Grant (2014–2015)
• Humanities Initiative Research Award, Brown University (2013–2014)
• Elected Resident Member, Colonial Society of Massachusetts (2013)

Fisher has advised undergraduate researchers through the Karen T. Romer Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award and mentors graduate students in Atlantic World and Native American history. He has secured major grants from the NEH, ACLS, American Philosophical Society, and Brown University, supporting archival research, digital projects, and collaborative scholarship. His current NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant (2022–2025) funds the Stolen Relations project.

He leads the Stolen Relations: Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas project, a tribal-centered initiative creating a public, crowdsourced database of Native slavery across time and space. This project involves collaboration with Indigenous communities, scholars, and digital humanists to recover and centralize obscured histories of enslavement.