Nell Irvin Painter

Professor Nell Irvin Painter is the Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita at Princeton University. Her research expertise has focused on southern history in the nineteenth century. She teaches courses on American history and African-American studies, and the social construction of gender, race, and personal beauty. Formerly, Painter held faculty positions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Pennsylvania, after receiving her Ph.D. at Harvard University in American History. She published numerous books, articles, reviews and essays, such as Southern History Across the Color Line (2002) and Creating Black Americans (2006). She is the former Director of Princeton's Program in African-American Studies and has honorary doctorates from Wesleyan, Dartmouth, SUNY New Paltz and Yale. Other positions include President of the Southern Historical Association and President of the Organization of American Historians. Currently, she is a full-time BFA student at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Awards include the Coretta Scott King Award, Graduate Society Medal, Candace Award, Letitia Brown Book Prize, Alumnus/a of the Year, Association of Black Princeton Alumni University Service Award, Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award, National Medal of Technology, Gustavus Myers Center Outstanding Book Award, and Centennial Award.