Graduate Student Bios

Bea Pearson is a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate specializing in African American and Women's and Gender histories. Bea’s research surrounds disability, enslavement, and fugitive exploits. Within these arenas, she's interested in how ableism contributed to the development of gendered racial capitalism within the antebellum world and how disabled freedom-seekers continued to foment its crises. Bea is also a public historian, working with local museums and school programs to encourage youth engagement with history and extend her own. Ultimately, Bea pursues Black liberation in both the form and content of their work. She received her B.A. in History from Wake Forest University.