OAH Distinguished Lecturer Profile
NOTE: Unavailable December 2021-February 2022
Ashley D. Farmer is a historian of Black women's history, intellectual history, and radical politics. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of History and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Farmer is the author of the award winning book, Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era and a co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition. Farmer's scholarship has appeared in numerous venues including The Black Scholar and The Journal of African American History. Her research has also been featured in several popular outlets including Vibe, NPR, and The Chronicle Review, and The Washington Post. She has provided commentary on national and international media outlets including The New York Times and Al-Jazeera.
Building on her seminal article, "Archiving While Black," Farmer offers a probing look into the complicated relationship between African American historians and the archival repositories in which they work. She offers a behind the scenes look at her research, at how historians research and write history, and at the challenges African American historians face in documenting this current moment amid the digital age. She also offers potential solutions for challenging racism and bias in archival collecting and management.
