Meggan Farish Uses Gender and Race Research Award to Study Violence and Local Law

This summer Meggan Farish used the funding provided by the Gender and Race Research Award to continue research for her dissertation entitled “Mediating Violence in the Post-Revolutionary United States: Communities, Conflict, and Local Law, 1790-1840.” Local criminal court records provide important information regarding how slaves and free people of color navigated the legal system during this time. Her project addresses the violent actions of these men and women and how their actions, in turn, not only stretched the boundaries of acceptable social behavior but also altered conceptions of both gender and race. She conducted research at both the Library of Virginia and the New York Historical Society.