Laurie Woodard began her professional life as a dancer with the Dance Theater of Harlem. She completed her BA in History at Columbia University and her Ph. D in History and African American Studies at Yale University. Her research focuses upon the intersection between the cultural and political realms and employs interdisciplinary methodologies, drawing from performance studies, critical race theory, and women and gender studies. She was the recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities Schomburg Scholar-in-Residence Fellowship and the Sylvia Arden Boone Prize. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and American Quarterly. She is the recipient of a 2018 National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Award and is currently completing a manuscript on the life and work of performing artist and civil rights activist Fredi Washington. 

Yale University, Ph.D., History and African American Studies, 2007

Yale University, MA, History and African American Studies, 2002

Columbia University, BA, History, 2000

African American Cultural, Intellectual, Social, and Political History, U.S. Social, Cultural, and Political History, Early Modern Atlantic World History and Culture, Post-Emancipation African American Cultural History, Post-Emancipation African American Women’s History