Martin-Hardin, Amanda

Amanda Martin-Hardin is a Ph.D. student and a Richard Hofstadter Fellow in the Department of History. She examines the intersections of race, the environment, and visual culture in the 20th century United States.

Publications

“Nature in Black and White: Summer Camps and Racialized Landscapes in the Photography of Gordon Parks,” Environmental History 23, Issue 3 (July 2018): 594-605.

Education

I received a B.A. in American studies (with a minor in photojournalism) from the University of Texas in Austin, and an M.A. in history from Montana State University. I completed award-winning theses at both institutions. Prior to attending Columbia, I worked for several years as a professional photographer.

Research

I am a Ph.D. student and Richard Hofstadter Fellow in the Department of History.  I examine the intersections of race, the environment, and visual culture in the 19th and 20th century United States, with a primary focus on race and access to outdoor recreation spaces. More specifically, I research how leisure landscapes became predominantly white spaces, as well as how people of color resisted their exclusion from outdoor recreation spaces. I have a particular interest in utilizing visual sources such as photographs.

For more information on my work, you can visit my personal website or read my CV.

Experience

I practice public history and have worked with both museums and archives. I developed and taught a course at the Museum of the City of New York and led historical walking tours in Bozeman, Montana. I also have experience curating, digitizing, and executing archival exhibits. 

I have taught undergraduate courses since 2015. In 2017, I was awarded the College of Letters and Sciences Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant at Montana State University.

Additional professional experiences include:

• New York Metro Seminar in Environmental History Co-Organizer, 2019-present
• SOF/Heyman Public Humanities Graduate Student Fellow, 2020-21
• Co-President of the Graduate History Association, 2019-20
• Teaching Observation Fellow for the Center for Teaching and Learning, 2019-20
• Curatorial Assistant for the Rare Books & Manuscripts Library Exhibit, 2019-20