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Staff Profiles

Dr Genevieve Johnson

Associate Lecturer

Background

I am an Early Career Researcher whose work broadly deals with racial and transatlantic afterlives of American colonialism. My most recent work looked at transatlantic anti-slavery and the presence of Black Americans, fugitive and free, in Wales in the nineteenth-century, driven by the early lecturing and publishing there of the fugitive abolitionist Moses Roper. The work looked at the interactions between Black Americans and the Welsh at this time, and explored Wales' own colonial past and the impact this had on its receptiveness to anti-slavery and more largely anti-imperial ideals. The work looked in-depth at previously unresearched Welsh anti-slavery literature and how this helped to pave the way for thriving Black activism in the country.


I have also previously researched extensively the forced and coerced sterilisations of Indigenous North American women, particularly in the twentieth-century, as part of an ongoing genocide against Indigenous people. I contributed a chapter to an edited collection on this topic and remain dedicated to this work.


I have carried out significant work in public history, researching and writing for history podcasts, including BBC's You're Dead To Me.

Research

Having explored the anti-slavery interaction between Welsh working-class communities and Black Americans, I intend to carry out a project which explores similar interactions in the North-East of England. I am exploring the strong Black American presence in the North-East throughout the nineteenth-century and the thriving anti-slavery community which existed across the region, involving lecturing, publishing and residence of Black American activists, and families and groups of people in the North-East who supported and facilitated this.


Additionally, I am currently working as a Research Associate with the Labour and Society History Group.

Teaching

I currently teach on the module Introduction to Public History (HIS1104) and have previously taught on:


1968: A Global Moment? (HIS2300)

Diversities of Sexuality and Gender (HIS2322)

Slavery (HCA1001)

Violence in the American South (HIS2315)


Publications

  • Articles

  • Book Chapter

    • Johnson, G. Breaking the British Myth: from a Colonial Curriculum to the History of Indigenous Sterlisation. In: Morningstar Mercredi, ed. Sacred Bundles Unborn. Altona: Friesen Press, 2021. In Preparation.

  • Digital or Visual Media

    • Johnson, G. Red Power: The Forgotten Movement. British Association for American Studies, 2023.
    • Johnson, G, Nagouse, E, Price-Goodfellow, E, Jenner, G. Black Georgian England. BBC, 2022.

  • Online Publications

    • Johnson, G. El Karey, Youhannah (1843/4-1907), missionary. Dictionary of Welsh Biography, 2024. Available at: https://biography.wales/article/s14-ELKA-YOU-1843#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&manifest=https%3A%2F%2Fiiif.llyfrgell.cymru%2Fmanifests%2F2.0%2F4673925%2Fmanifest.json&xywh=654%2C615%2C881%2C711.
    • Johnson, G. 'Trying to Take Our Future With A Scalpel': Sterlisation and Indigenous Women's Reproductive Rights in the USA. Gendered State Violence, 2023.

  • Reviews

    • Johnson, G. Review [Stote, Karen. The Genocide Continues: Population Control & The Sterlization of Indigenous Women. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2025]. Transmotion 2026. In Preparation.
    • Johnson, G. Review [Gabriel, Dexter J. Jubilee’s Experiment: The British West Indies and American Abolitionism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025]. Reviews in History 2026. In Preparation.