Susan Eckelmann

Susan Eckelmann is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). She holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University Bloomington (2014), an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2007), and a B.A. from Freie Universität Berlin (2005). Her research focuses on the histories of children and youth, American race relations, and modern U.S. and transnational history. Her current manuscript, Freedom’s Little Lights: The World of Children and Teenagers in the U.S. and Abroad during the Civil Rights Era, examines intersections of youth culture, civil rights, and Cold War politics in the 1950s–1960s.

Dr. Eckelmann has received numerous grants and awards, including the PREP Grant (UTC) for her book project and the NEH Summer Institute fellowship (2017). She presents frequently at conferences, discussing topics like youth diplomacy during the Vietnam War and Black Lives in 1960s politics. Her teaching interests include post-WWII U.S. history, African American history, and transnational studies.

Her research output includes co-editing Growing Up America: Youth and Politics since 1945 (2019) and publishing articles in journals such as the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth. She is affiliated with organizations like the American Historical Association and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.