Catherine Adams

Associate Professor of History
Doty Hall 208A
585-245-5724
adamsc@geneseo.edu

Dr. Catherine Adams has been a member of the Geneseo faculty since 2007. Professor Adams is an expert in the history of African-Americans in the early United States. Her research interests include early American history, African American history, women's history, and material culture.  In 2010, Dr. Adams co-authored Love of Freedom: Black Women in Colonial and Revolutionary New England.

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Photo of Cathy Adams

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • Ph.D. in History, University of Illinois

Publications

  • Love of Freedom: Black Women in Colonial and Revolutionary New England

Research Interests

  • Early America
  • African American
  • Women
  • Material Culture

love of freedom cover of book

Classes

  • HIST 565: Readings in Early Amer History

    This course is designed to give you experience in the craft of historical research and writing. We will read and discuss recent works on the history of Early America. Our focus will be on the early modern Atlantic World, not just the thirteen colonies of British North America, and so we will examine the perspectives of various peoples, including Africans, the indigenous, Europeans, colonized, colonists, and those in between. These historiographical discussions will set the stage for you to pursue an original research project. The assigned secondary source literature as well as your research into other secondary sources and relevant primary sources on your selected topics will result in a significant final project that includes a discussion of relevant literature on the topic.

  • WRTG 105: Wrtg:Hist of Meaningful Things

    Writing Seminar lays the foundation for students to participate insightfully in both written and oral academic conversations. The course focuses on three modes of written and oral communication: communication as an ongoing persuasive dialogue with multiple audiences, communication with a reflective self, and communication with a dynamic evolving text. The course also introduces elements of information literacy and critical thinking needed to develop and evaluate academic conversation. Writing Seminar is typically taken by new students in their first two semesters, often as the introduction to general education, to our library, and to academic support services as sites of collaboration rather than remediation. As many new students' only seminar-style class, Writing Seminar can help lay the foundations of not only academic but also social success.