Michell Chresfield

I am a lecturer in 20th century US history at the University of Birmingham where my teaching and research focus on the history of race and gender and sexuality. Much of my research has focused on how sexual liaisons between Native American, White settlers, and Black freedpeople gave rise to triracial communities who found it difficult to etch out an existence in America's biracial society. I am particularly interested in how stereotypes surrounding Black female sexuality played into how triracial communities were framed in both popular and scientific imaginings. I am currently working on a book project related to this work titled, What Lies Between: Race, Science, and the Prehistory of Multiracial America. My additional research and teaching focus on the history of sex work and feminism, body politics, and black maternal health.