12 Oct 2025
A few months ago, I was asked to preach at First Christian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. My text was Jeremiah 2. Weaving tales of my grandmother, the Kingdom of Judah, and Lynchburg’s most famous civil rights sit-in, I argued for the importance of telling our love stories, even in hard times. You can listen to a recording of my sermon on YouTube.
The civil rights portion of my talk grew out of my earlier work preparing a co-lecture for Randolph’s first year experience program, Life More Abundant.
16 Feb 2025
I was recently invited to give a talk about Methodist history and racial justice to the William and Mary Wesley Foundation. While the first half focused on standard denominational history, the second half I focused in on lessons we can draw from the Student Christian Movement, using my Modern American History article. Overall, the experience was a lot of fun, and I’m thankful to Rev. Ryan LaRock for inviting me!
16 Oct 2023
We moved to Lynchburg last summer and have been working hard to find friends and build community ever since. It’s never easy adjusting to a new place, but we’re doing our best! This fall, Livability magazine did a short feature on Maria and me and how we’ve adjusted to our new town.
15 Nov 2022
In 2020, I was chosen to receive a $2,500 Research Fellowship grant from the Presbyterian Historical Society. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic delayed my trip to the archive. Thankfully, I was able to use my research funds to request digital scans that were essential for writing my dissertation. I completed my long-anticipated trip to the archive in January 2022.
This past week, I participated in a panel discussion with other grant recipients to talk about my research and the impact of the PHS fellowship. You can read an article about the event or watch a recording of the event. Perhaps most importantly, be sure to support the Presbyterian Historical Society and other libraries and archives this Giving Tuesday!
