Rashauna Johnson

Rashauna Johnson is an Associate Professor of US History and the College at Dartmouth College, where she has taught for nine years. She is affiliated with the Program in African and African American Studies (AAAS) and has directed academic programs such as the foreign study program in London (2017) and the honors program (2019–2020). Her research focuses on 19th-century African diaspora, slavery and emancipation in the US South and Atlantic World, and methodologies in archival research, particularly the silences and biases within historical records.

Educationally, Johnson earned a BA in Afro-American Studies and Political Science from Howard University (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and a PhD in History from New York University. Her graduate work was supported by the Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship, and her NYU dissertation won the 2011 Dean’s Outstanding Dissertation Award in the Humanities.

Her research interests span Caribbean-Atlantic History, Gender and Sexuality, Race, US South History, Urban and Regional History, and African Diaspora Studies. She interrogates how archival sources both reveal and obscure the lived experiences of enslaved and marginalized communities, advocating for critical engagement with historical documentation to challenge sanitized narratives.

Johnson’s scientific awards include the 2016 Williams Prize for Louisiana history, the 2018 H. L. Mitchell Award, and the Drusilla Dunjee Houston Award. She has also been a finalist for the Berkshire Conference Book Prize and the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, and received an honorable mention for the Urban History Association’s Kenneth Jackson Award.

In advising and grants, Johnson has directed academic programs and advised the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) at Dartmouth. Her current project, supported by grants from Harvard’s Hutchins Center, the Mellon Foundation, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute, examines family, race, and region in rural Louisiana. She co-edits The Cambridge History of the African Diaspora, furthering her commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship.

Johnson actively engages with public history, serving as an OAH Distinguished Lecturer and delivering talks to high school audiences. She has also taught GED and literature courses in correctional facilities, reflecting her dedication to accessible education. Professional affiliations include the Omohundro Institute Council and former board membership in the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD). Her work bridges academic rigor and community-oriented scholarship, challenging historical amnesia through both research and outreach.