Field: United States; Advisor: Jacoby; Year: 2018
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.
“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.
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.
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: