Jennifer Wells

Biography

Research Interests

• Jennifer Wells is a Ph.D. candidate in History at Texas A&M University specializing in British colonial North America, the American Revolution, and the Early American Republic. Her research explores the social ambiguities of the urban South following the Revolution, a transformative period when questions of national identity and belonging swirled. Specifically, her dissertation analyzes the petition of Christopher McPherson, a free man of color who launched an ardent campaign to repeal an ordinance prohibiting Black Americans from using or owing carriages in Richmond, Virginia. Using the petition as a lens into the early national period, she investigates veteran affairs, the influence of polite culture on race and class, the impact of mass media, educational reforms, apocalyptic prophets, and the history of early American psychiatric institutions.

   Areas of Speciality

  • Revolutions
  • Gender