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ABOUT

Dr. Joshua Strayhorn is currently a Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Park Service where he aids in telling more inclusive stories in the history of our nation's founding. He is also a scholar of 19th and 20th-century African American history. His book project, Freedom's Promise: Black Mobility and Migration in North Carolina, 1860 -1898, chronicles the history of enslaved and freed people’s communities and cultures in Eastern North Carolina, where its topography, ecology, and local people’s spirituality, helped shape the course of freed people’s migration to the U.S. Midwest, Deep South, and abroad during Reconstruction. His research interests broadly include African American history, specifically emancipation and reconstruction, with a focus on race, religion, and migration. His work has been supported by numerous organizations, including the Mellon Foundation, the North Caroliniana Society, and the Kenan School of Ethics at Duke University. In 2022, he was awarded the Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation fellowship from the Institute For Citizens and Scholars to complete his dissertation. 

 

As a scholar committed to public history and community engagement, Dr. Strayhorn is also a digital humanist with experience in digital projects across the fields of history and curriculum development. He is committed expanding access to the histories of underrepresented populations across the country. He has worked with a variety of local and national partners, including the James City Historical Society, Zinn Education Project, JSTORLabs, the National Park Service, and the National Humanities Center.

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Dr. Strayhorn earned his Master's degree and Ph.D. in history from Duke University and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelors in history and minor in Spanish from North Carolina Central University. 

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