Contact

718-390-3491
Rita.reynolds@wagner.edu

Teaching

I am a 19th and 20th century historian of African-American and American history. I teach courses that focus on the minority experience, gender and cultural history, as well as the history of Modern Civil Rights Movement and American religion.

EYH HI 291: History of Charleston, South Carolina from 1680 to the Civil War

Research

My scholarship focuses on Charleston’s wealthy free black community in South Carolina during slavery. I am also interested in issues of gender, power and slavery in the South, and free people of color in the northern states. I am presently working on a book on wealthy free women of color in antebellum Charleston, South Carolina.

Life Experiences

I grew up in New York City. I spent my formative years in the Northeast Bronx. Some of my free time is spent as a documentary photographer. I am an avid swimmer and I also joyfully embrace 19th and early 20th century NYC history.

Education

PH.D. University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 2007
M.A. University of California at Los Angeles, 1991
M.A. New York University, 1988
B.F.A. California Institute of the Arts, 1986