Dr Emily Brady
I am a social and cultural historian of the twentieth century United States, focussing on the intersection of identity, visuality and activism. My passion for visual culture was ignited during my American Studies undergraduate degree at the University of Nottingham (2011-2015), which included a year abroad at The College of New Jersey. I was drawn to the images used in our lectures to illustrate history, and was curious about the identity and agenda(s) of the photographers. As such, I grew interested in how we use visual sources – especially photography – to communicate history. I undertook an MRes (2016-2017) and a PhD (2017-2021) at the University of Nottingham, exploring the alternative archive revealed by Black women photographers in the civil rights era. For my contribution to the postgraduate community and the high standard of my research, I won the Heymann Research Scholarship (Tri-Campus Postgraduate Awards, 2020).
Following my PhD, I taught at the University of Leeds as a Teaching Fellow in American History (2021-2022). Following this invigorating year of teaching, I was the Broadbent Junior Research Fellow in American History at Rothermere American Institute and Christ Church College (2022-2025). During this time I was able to develop my first monograph: I Didn’t Know She Took Pictures: Black Women Photographers from the Harlem Renaissance to Black Power (forthcoming 2027, University of North Carolina Press). I also organised the first UK exhibition of civil rights activist Maria Varela’s photography (April – May 2024).
I teach a variety of papers that pertain to the United States and the World. As an interdisciplinary scholar, I teach across a wide range of subject areas, including: History, History of Art, Sociology, Film Studies, Black Studies, Gender Studies and Literature. I teach the Special Subject on Race, Religion and Resistance in the United States: From Jim Crow to Civil Rights. I also regularly teach on EWF12: The Making of Modern America, since 1863 and Sources and Historiography. I have supervised a broad range of theses, including: the value of Black artists in UK auction houses (History of Art, BA); lived experiences of mixed-race women in Oxford University (Women and Gender Studies, MA); and children’s literature and 9/11 (History).
I am also passionate about developing intersectional and interdisciplinary pedagogical approaches, working as the Project Lead of “Bridging the Resource Gap – American Studies Resources for 16-19.” I am interested in how photography can be employed to enhance student engagement and outreach initiatives.
“Forgotten Manuscript Series: Langston Hughes, London, 1938 by Eslanda Goode Robeson,” African American Review, vol. 57, no. 1 (2024): p. 1-14.
““Shutterbug?”: Black Women Photographers and the Politics of Self-Representation,” Panorama, vol. 9, no. 1 (2023).
““I Take the Pictures as I See Them”: Doris Derby as Womanist, Activist and Photographer in the Civil Rights Movement,” Journal of American Studies vol. 56, no. 4 (2022).
““I Like To Make Pictures of Children”: African American Women Photographers as Mothers, Protestors, and Businesswomen,” in Lesly Deschler Canossi and Zoraida Lopez- Diego (eds.) Black Matrilineage, Photography and Representation: Another Way of Knowing (Leuven University Press, 2022), pp. 125-144.
Dr Emily Brady
I am a social and cultural historian of the twentieth century United States, focussing on the intersection of identity, visuality and activism. My passion for visual culture was ignited during my American Studies undergraduate degree at the University of Nottingham (2011-2015), which included a year abroad at The College of New Jersey. I was drawn to the images used in our lectures to illustrate history, and was curious about the identity and agenda(s) of the photographers. As such, I grew interested in how we use visual sources – especially photography – to communicate history. I undertook an MRes (2016-2017) and a PhD (2017-2021) at the University of Nottingham, exploring the alternative archive revealed by Black women photographers in the civil rights era. For my contribution to the postgraduate community and the high standard of my research, I won the Heymann Research Scholarship (Tri-Campus Postgraduate Awards, 2020).
Following my PhD, I taught at the University of Leeds as a Teaching Fellow in American History (2021-2022). Following this invigorating year of teaching, I was the Broadbent Junior Research Fellow in American History at Rothermere American Institute and Christ Church College (2022-2025). During this time I was able to develop my first monograph: I Didn’t Know She Took Pictures: Black Women Photographers from the Harlem Renaissance to Black Power (forthcoming 2027, University of North Carolina Press). I also organised the first UK exhibition of civil rights activist Maria Varela’s photography (April – May 2024).
I teach a variety of papers that pertain to the United States and the World. As an interdisciplinary scholar, I teach across a wide range of subject areas, including: History, History of Art, Sociology, Film Studies, Black Studies, Gender Studies and Literature. I teach the Special Subject on Race, Religion and Resistance in the United States: From Jim Crow to Civil Rights. I also regularly teach on EWF12: The Making of Modern America, since 1863 and Sources and Historiography. I have supervised a broad range of theses, including: the value of Black artists in UK auction houses (History of Art, BA); lived experiences of mixed-race women in Oxford University (Women and Gender Studies, MA); and children’s literature and 9/11 (History).
I am also passionate about developing intersectional and interdisciplinary pedagogical approaches, working as the Project Lead of “Bridging the Resource Gap – American Studies Resources for 16-19.” I am interested in how photography can be employed to enhance student engagement and outreach initiatives.
“Forgotten Manuscript Series: Langston Hughes, London, 1938 by Eslanda Goode Robeson,” African American Review, vol. 57, no. 1 (2024): p. 1-14.
““Shutterbug?”: Black Women Photographers and the Politics of Self-Representation,” Panorama, vol. 9, no. 1 (2023).
““I Take the Pictures as I See Them”: Doris Derby as Womanist, Activist and Photographer in the Civil Rights Movement,” Journal of American Studies vol. 56, no. 4 (2022).
““I Like To Make Pictures of Children”: African American Women Photographers as Mothers, Protestors, and Businesswomen,” in Lesly Deschler Canossi and Zoraida Lopez- Diego (eds.) Black Matrilineage, Photography and Representation: Another Way of Knowing (Leuven University Press, 2022), pp. 125-144.