The Celia Project

In spring 2012, The Celia Project began as a conversation between colleagues in history, literature, and law about Celia v. State of Missouri, a complex and troubling case that illustrates the centrality of state-sanctioned violence in the lives of enslaved women. The Celia Project has hosted public talks, developed working papers, sponsored visits to the archives and the field, and collaborated on grant writing. Today, the Celia Project is at work on an edited volume of essays on Celia’s case and is collaborating with civic leaders in Missouri on the possibility of securing a posthumous pardon for Celia.

Directors

Martha S. Jones, J.D., Ph.D. Professor. University of Michigan Departments of History and Department of Afroamerican and African Studies. Affiliated Faculty University of Michigan Law School.

Hannah Rosen, Ph.D. Associate Professor. The College of William & Mary, Department of History and Program in American Studies.

Members

Adrienne M. Davis, J.D. Professor of Law and Vice Provost. Washington University in St. Louis.

Crystal N. Feimster, Ph.D. Associate Professor. Yale University, Department of African American Studies.

Alison M. Gorsuch, J.D., Ph.D. 

Ariela J. Gross, J.D., Ph.D. Professor. University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

Brandi D. Hughes, Ph.D. Assistant Professor. University of Michigan Department of History and Department of American Culture.

Arlene D. Keizer, Ph.D. Associate Professor. University of California, Irvine Department of English and Department of African American Studies.

Andrea Stone, Ph.D. Associate Professor. Smith College, Department of English.

Megan Sweeney, Ph.D. Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. University of Michigan. Departments of English, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Women’s Studies.

Support for the Celia Project comes from the University of Michigan Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG,) the University of Michigan Law School’s Program in Race, Law & History, and the University of Michigan Office of Research (UMOR) MCubed Program.