Samantha Payne

Assistant Professor

Address: Maybank Hall, Room 312
Office Hours: Tuesdays 10:00-12:00 or by appt.
Phone: 843.953.1420
E-mail: paynesl@cofc.edu


Samantha Payne is a historian of the United States and the Atlantic World, with particular interests in slavery, emancipation, race and capitalism. Her book manuscript, The Last Atlantic Revolution: Reconstruction and the Struggle for Democracy in the Americas, 1861-1912, explores the Atlantic history of Reconstruction in the United States, Cuba, and Brazil, the last societies to abolish slavery in the Atlantic World. She received her B.A. from the College of William and Mary in 2014 and her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2022. She has also served as a Visiting Fellow in African American History at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and as a Global History Fellow at the University of São Paulo. Her article, “‘A General Insurrection in the Countries with Slaves’: The U.S. Civil War and the Origins of an Atlantic Revolution, 1861-1866,” was published in Past and Present in December 2021.


Education

Ph.D. in History, Harvard University, 2022

M.A. in History, Harvard University, 2017

B.A. in History and English, College of William and Mary, 2014


Courses Taught

The Civil War and Reconstruction in the Atlantic World (Fall 2022)

The Global History of Capitalism (Fall 2022)

American Racism (Spring 2023)


Honors and Awards

Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in African American History, Library Company of Philadelphia, 2022-2023 (declined)

Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize for Excellence in the Art of Teaching, Harvard University, 2022

Ralph Lee Woodward Jr. Prize, Runner Up, Latin American and Caribbean Section, Southern Historical Association, 2022

Albert J. Beveridge Grant, American Historical Association, 2021

Andrew W. Mellon Short-Term Fellowship, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2020

Charles Warren Center for American History Term-Time Grant, Harvard University, 2020

Global History Fellow, University of São Paulo, 2019

Joel Williamson Visiting Scholar in African American History, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2018

Afro-Latin American Research Institute Summer Research Grant, Harvard University, 2018

Gilder Lehrman History Scholar Award, 2014

Phi Beta Kappa, College of William and Mary, 2013


Publications

Book Manuscript
The Last Atlantic Revolution: Reconstruction and the Struggle for Democracy in the Americas, 1861-1912 (in progress)
Peer Reviewed Articles
“‘A General Insurrection in the Countries with Slaves’: The U.S. Civil War and the Origins of an Atlantic Revolution, 1861-1866,” Past and Present (December 2021)