Arielle Rochelin

I am a PhD student studying African American history, Black women's history, and the histories of the Black diaspora. My dissertation tells the unsung stories of Black missionary women from the United States who travelled to the Congo, Malawi, and Liberia at the dawn of the twentieth century. By centering the vantage of these churchwomen, my work arrives at an alternative ecosystem of Black missions-making made up of Black women's colleges, Sunday schools, offering plates, and travel letters. Missionary women showcase the ways in which race and gender placed African American and African women in the clefts of empire, wading between belonging and alienation, citizenship and statelessness, freedom and captivity. Perhaps most importantly, missionary women show us the ways that Black women across the Atlantic used uplift and respectability to co-create usable models of emancipatory politics at home and abroad. 

Before coming to Duke, I taught high school social studies courses in Senegal, Massachusetts, and Georgia. I am also the assistant director the Black Reproductive Justice Archive, a digital repository devoted to centering the stories and experiences of people who are on the frontlines of supporting Black women’s reproductive lives.

Educational Background

Ph.D. in African American History, Duke University
M.A. of Arts (History), Cornell University, Ithaca
M.A. in Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
B.A. in African Studies and International Politics, Atlanta, GA