Genevieve Johnson-Smith
Genevieve Johnson-Smith is a History PhD student. Genevieve's project is entitled 'The Legacy of Moses Roper: Fugitive Abolitionism, Black Emancipatory Activism, Anti-Slavery Radicalism and Print Culture in Wales'
Project Title
The Legacy of Moses Roper: Fugitive Abolitionism, Black Emancipatory Activism, Anti-Slavery Radicalism and Print Culture in Wales
Academic Supervisors
Project Description
Using the career of the formerly enslaved freedom fighter Moses Roper as a springboard, this research explores fugitive abolitionism, emancipatory activism, anti-slavery radicalism and print culture in Wales. This is a Collaborative Doctoral Award in partnership with the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, where much of the primary research will take place. This project involves research into the Black Atlantic, Welsh language publication, transatlantic abolitionism, literary and performative activism and anti-slavery activism in Wales and Britain more widely. This project involves extensive study of existing secondary literature as well as examination of primary sources, particularly nineteenth-century newspaper articles and genealogy records, slave narratives and other written testimonies.
This project moves away from the traditional “British” lens of nineteenth-century transatlantic anti-slavery study and establishes Wales as its own singular anti-slavery entity, as well as centering the work of Moses Roper as opposed to other better known Black abolitionists of this era.
Conferences and Publications
Conference papers:
- “The impact of Moses Roper on Transatlantic Abolition: Tracing Black Activism in Nineteenth-Century Wales” – British American Nineteenth Century Historians Conference, 2022
- “The impact of Moses Roper on Transatlantic Abolition: Tracing Black Activism in Nineteenth-Century Wales” - Aberystwyth University History Department Research Seminar, 2023.
- “‘Trying to take our future with a scalpel’: Sterilisation and Indigenous Women’s Reproductive Rights in the USA” – Society for the History of Women in the Americas Conference, 2023.
- “Black Activism in the North East in the Nineteenth-Century.” – Various locations, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, 2023.
- “The Many Refusals of Moses Roper” – British Association of Nineteenth-Century Americanists Conference, 2023.
Published work:
- Book chapter: Johnson-Smith, Genevieve. “Breaking the British Myth: from a Colonial Curriculum to the History of Indigenous Sterilisation,” in Sacred Bundles Unborn, edited by Morningstar Mercredi. Altona: Friesen Press, 2021.
- Podcast episode: Johnson-Smith, Genevieve, Emma Nagouse, Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner. “Black Georgian England.” Produced by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4. You’re Dead To Me, August 2022.
- Blog post: Johnson-Smith, Genevieve. “'Trying To Take Our Future With A Scalpel': Sterilisation And Indigenous Women’s Reproductive Rights In The USA.” Gendered State Violence, 2023. https://sites.google.com/view/gendered-state-violence/timeline/1972-sterilization-of-indigenous-women
- Blog post: Johnson, Genevieve. “‘Rough Rollicking Enthusiasm’: Relationships Between Election Violence and the Restricted Franchise.” Causes and Consequences of Electoral Violence: Evidence from England and Wales, http://victorianelectionviolence.uk/rough-rollicking-enthusiasm-relationships-between-election-violence-and-the-restricted-franchise/
Other Roles
- Senior Research Assistant, English & Creative Writing, Northumbria University (February 2024 – present)
- Producer, C19 Podcast (January 2024 – present)
- Research Intern, You’re Dead To Me Podcast, BBC (March 2022 – June 2022)
- Research Assistant, Durham University (July 2018 – December 2019)
Teaching
HIS2315: Violence in the American South: From the Colonial Era to Reconstruction
Memberships and Associations
- British American Nineteenth Century Historians (BrANCH)
- British Association of Nineteenth-Century Americanists (BrANCA)
- British Association for American Studies (BAAS)
- EDI Together
- Historians of the Twentieth Century United States (HOTCUS)
- Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW) – Postgraduate Representative