Jennie Katherine Williams, Ph.D.

Jennie K. Williams, Ph.D. is a historian with expertise in American slavery and the domestic slave trade, digital methodologies, data and data ethics. Her book, Oceans of Kinfolk: the Coastwise Traffic of Enslaved Persons to New Orleans, 1820-1860, is under contract with UNC Press. Dr. Williams is the author of the Oceans of Kinfolk database, lead author of the Louisiana Kindred database, and Co-Founder, along with Eola Dance, of Kinfolkology: an open archive, digital home, and collaborative community dedicated to remembering enslaved people as kin and kindred in full partnership with Descendant communities. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Engagements at UVA, where she teaches a course entitled “Data and History: Problems and Possibilities.”