About Me
I am a historian of race, ethnicity, and identity in the United States and Latin America. I am especially interested in social movements, immigration and migration, and comparative race and ethnicity, particularly Black and Latine histories. I love to teach - it has been a constant companion throughout academia, and interactions with my students are my favorite part of my job.
I graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2018 with my Ph.D. in history, with an interdisciplinary emphasis in Black Studies. While there I spent most of my time in History, Black Studies, Chicana/o Studies, and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC). As an undergraduate at UC San Diego, I also worked across disciplines, which is why I am at my most comfortable in interdisciplinary frameworks. This shows in my teaching, since I use a variety of types of material and analysis in all of my classes.
I currently live in Las Cruces, New Mexico with my husband (Doug) and my dog (Rudy). Doug has a masters in ecology and has worked in IT and the brewing industry (and makes really good beer, but I'm biased). Rudy regularly wins the hearts of everyone he meets. His favorite thing is cuddling and to "help" with anything, including grading.
I have a wide range of interests outside of being a historian. I like science fiction, fantasy, comic books, sports (especially baseball and basketball), being outdoors, and musicals. I trained in Aikido for over a decade, have a Ni-Dan (second degree black belt), and taught for quite a few years. Aikido has had a profound impact on how I look at the world and how I teach.
Service
I have been involved with a few initiatives outside of the academic institutions I've been involved with. Some are related to my work with Little Liberia, others aren't. To learn more about my service, teaching, and research, visit my academia.edu page.
Consulado General de los Estados Unidos en Tijuana
(US Consulate in Tijuana)
As part of their Black History Month programming, the United States Consulate in Tijuana invited me to give a talk (virtually, due to COVID) about Little Liberia as part of a larger history of African Americans in Mexico. The talk was in English and Spanish and included students and instructors from Baja California universities, as well as local history groups.
A digital history initiative in Delano, California, funded by a grant by the NEH. I was able to collaborate with Dr. Oliver Rosales on the project, especially in bringing to light local African American history stories. In the project's early days I was also invited to speak about connections between Little Liberia and the community in Allensworth, California.
Underground Railroad Education Center
This museum and public history center (located in Albany, NY) looks at local and national African American history topics, especially those focused on emancipation, freedom seeking, and empowerment. I wrote a short piece for the newsletter The Freedom Seeker in 2019 and spoke at their annual conference in 2021 (digitally, with all proceeds from the talk going to the center to help offset costs while closed due to COVID).
Dr. Laura Hooton
Assistant Professor of History
New Mexico State University
hooton@nmsu.edu
