Bio

 
 

HISTORIAN OF
AFRICAN-AMERICAN
WOMEN'S HISTORY
AND BLACK RADICALISM 

 
 

DR. ASHLEY D. FARMER is a historian of Black women's history, intellectual history, and radical politics. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of History and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her book, Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era  is the first comprehensive study of black women's intellectual production and activism in the Black Power era. She is also the co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition, an anthology that examines central themes within the black intellectual tradition.  
Her next book, Queen Mother Audley Moore: Mother of Black Nationalism will be the first biography of one of the most influential yet understudied activists and thinkers of the 20th century. The book examines Audley Moore's life and activism from 1898 to 1997 and reveals how she was an important but overlooked progenitor of Black Nationalist thought and activism. 

Farmer's scholarship has appeared in numerous venues including The Black Scholar and The Journal of African American History. Her research has also been featured in several popular outlets including Vibe, and Harper’s Bazaar, The Washington Post. She has provided commentary on national and international media outlets including The New York Times, NPR, and Al-Jazeera. She is also a Distinguished Lecturer with the Organization of American Historians. 

Farmer has received numerous fellowships and awards including fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Whiting Foundation. The Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) have also supported her research. She was a founding leader of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) and a regular blogger for Black Perspectives. Farmer is also a co-editor of the Black Power Series published with NYU Press and the Black Women History's Series, published with UNC Press.  She has written several journal articles and essays for The Black Scholar, Black Diaspora Review, Journal of African American History, and others.

Farmer earned a BA from Spelman College, an MA in History and a PhD in African American Studies from Harvard University. Dr. Farmer lives in Austin, TX and tweets from @drashleyfarmer.