Yesenia Barragan

Yesenia Barragan is an Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University, where she has been teaching since 2019. Specializing in Modern Latin American and African Diaspora History with a focus on race, slavery, and emancipation, she is a leading scholar in 19th-century Atlantic and Pacific world studies. Her academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Latin American History from Columbia University, where she was a Ford Foundation Fellow, and a B.A. in Philosophy and History from Brown University, where she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and Beinecke Scholar.

• Ph.D. in Latin American History, Columbia University
• B.A. in Philosophy and History, Brown University

Professor Barragan's research centers on the intersections of race, slavery, and emancipation in the 19th-century Americas. Her groundbreaking work examines how gradual emancipation processes paradoxically strengthened slaveholders' interests in Colombia, while also exploring Latin America as a destination for African American freedom seekers during the antebellum period. Her scholarship bridges historical analysis with contemporary social justice concerns, particularly regarding race and structural inequality.

Her publications reveal a consistent focus on the Colombian Black Pacific region, with particular attention to gender dynamics, legal frameworks of slavery, and the lived experiences of enslaved and free Black populations. The trajectory of her work moves from legal and economic aspects of slavery toward broader examinations of freedom movements, diasporic connections, and contemporary legacies of racial injustice. Her research demonstrates exceptional geographic scope, spanning the Atlantic and Pacific worlds while maintaining deep regional expertise in Colombia.

• 2022 Wesley-Logan Prize for best book on African diaspora history
• 2022 Best Book Award for the 19th Century Section of LASA
• 2023 Early Career Book Prize from Rutgers University Center for Cultural Analysis
• 2022 Antonine Tibesar Prize from the Conference on Latin American History
• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2022-2023)

Professor Barragan is deeply committed to mentoring, particularly first-generation students and those from underrepresented backgrounds. She serves as Principal Investigator for 'The Free Womb Project,' a multilingual digital collection of gradual emancipation laws, and convenes the interdisciplinary 'Slavery + Freedom Studies Working Group' at Rutgers. Her grant portfolio includes significant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and various fellowships supporting her book projects on African American migration to Latin America during the antebellum period.

As a first-generation daughter of Latin American immigrants and longtime social justice activist, Professor Barragan brings personal experience to her public scholarship work, which includes serving as a Country of Origin Information Expert for Colombian asylum cases and contributing to platforms like Black Perspectives and Telesur.