Jessica Legnini
PhD (History), Warwick, UK
MA (History), George Mason University, USA
BA (Art History), George Mason University, USA
I have now completed my PhD at Warwick. I am currently teaching Advanced Placement United States History and Advanced Placement World History for Loudoun County Public Schools just outside of Washington DC. I am also a lecturer at Northern Virginia Community College, where I teach courses in United States History and Western Civilisation.
My PhD dissertation was written under the supervision of Prof. Trevor BurnardLink opens in a new window (Melbourne). The thesis examined the cultural significance of two American blackface minstrel troupes, the Virginia Minstrels and the Ethiopian Serenaders, who performed in Britain during the 1840s.
Research Interests: Nineteenth-century British and U.S. cultural history
Funding: ASSEC
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
PhD History, University of Warwick, UK.
MA History, George Mason University, USA.
BA Art History (Hons.); Minor in Film and Media Studies, George Mason University, USA.
DISSERTATION
Identity, Class and Emulation: American Blackface Minstrelsy and its British Audiences, 1843-1847, supervised by Prof. Trevor Burnard (University of Melbourne).
HONOURS/AWARDS
2011 Sally Ledger Memorial Bursary, British Victorian Studies Association.
2010 Presidential Citation for Outstanding Educator, Virginia Governor's School for Visual and Performing Arts, Radford University, VA.
2009/10 American Study and Student Exchange Committee Award, Warwick University.
2009 Summer Fellowship, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, University of Maryland.
2008 Presidential Citation for Outstanding Educator, Virginia Governor’s School for Humanities, University of Richmond, VA.
2008 Presidential Citation for Outstanding Educator, Virginia Governor’s School for Visual & Performing Arts, University of Richmond, VA.
2008 Presidential Citation for Outstanding Educator, Virginia Governor’s School for Science, Mathematics, and Technology, Lynchburg College, VA.
2003 Award for Excellence in Art History, George Mason University.
2001/02 Clifford R. Logan III Award in Art History for ‘Free, Fresh Savage,’ Fränzi Fehrmann and the Artists of Die Brücke, GMU.
MA thesis supervised by Prof. Lawrence Levine, University of California, Berkeley and George Mason University.
TEACHING
NORTHERN VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, Annandale, VA.
Lecturer, January 2007 to present.
- Courses taught: US History, Western Civilisation.
LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOLS, Ashburn, VA.
Social Studies Teacher, Freedom High School, August 2006 to present.
- Courses taught: AP US History, AP World History.
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY, Fairfax, VA.
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of History and Art History, 2004-2005.
- Courses taught: US History.
ARTICLES
POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT STUDIES, 'A "Genuine Display of Ethiopian Life": The Virginia Minstrels at the Manchester Link opens in a new windowAthenaeum'
Link opens in a new window, September 2011, 2 no. 2, 35-54.
THE REGISTER OF THE KENTUCKY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 'Radicals, Reunion, and Repatriation: Harlan County and the Constraints of History', Autumn 2009, 107 no.4, 471-512.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION, Washington DC, and College Park, Md.
Research Assistant, Museum Programmes, 2002.
CONFERENCES
NORTH AMERICAN VICTORIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION, November, 2011. Presentation: 'American Blackface Minstrelsy and its British Audiences, 1843-1847'.
WARWICK UNIVERSITY, HISTORY POST-GRADUATE CONFERENCE, May, 2010. Presentation: 'American Blackface Minstrelsy and its English Audiences, 1843-1848'.
SOUTHERN AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION, February, 2009. Presentation: 'Radicals, Reunions, and Repatriation: Harlan County and the Constraints of History'.
MEMBERSHIPS
American Historical Association.
North American Victorian Studies Association.
