Charity Folks, Lost Royalty, And The Bishop Family Of Maryland And New York

‘That All Her Increase Shall Be Free’: enslaved women's bodies and the Maryland 1809 Law of Manumission

In 1965, the University of California, Irvine was founded with a mission to catalyze the community and enhance lives through rigorous academics, cutting-edge research, and dedicated public service. Today, we draw on the unyielding spirit of our pioneering faculty, staff and students who arrived on campus with a dream to inspire change and generate new ideas. We believe that true progress is made when different perspectives come together to advance our understanding of the world around us. And we enlighten our communities and point the way to a better future. At UCI, we shine brighter.

UC Irvine

Dr. Jessica Millward is an Associate professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on comparative slavery and emancipation, African American history, gender and the law. She is the author of “Teaching African American History in the Age of Obama,” which appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education. She is also the recipient of the 2007 Association of Black Women Historians’ Letitia Brown Wood award for the best article in African American Women’s History for her article titled, “More History Than Myth: African American Women’s History since the Publication of Ar’n’t I a Woman,” Journal of Women’s History Vol. 19 No. 2 (Summer 2007): 161-167.” Dr. Millward’s work has appeared in Frontier’s: A Journal of Women’s History, the Women’s History Review and is forthcoming in the Journal of African American History. Dr. Millward’s manuscript on enslaved women, family and freedom in pre Civil War Maryland is forthcoming as part of the Race in the
Atlantic World series, University of Georgia Press.

Dr. Millward is a founding member of the UCI Ghana Project-an educational and cultural exchange program between faculty, students, and staff at the University of California Irvine and the University of Ghana, Legon. For three weeks during summer 2010, UCI collaborated with the Kwame Nkrumah Institute for African Studies, the Ghana Dance Ensemble, and the Department of Dance at the University of Ghana, Legon.  Dr. Millward holds affiliate status with the following programs at UCI: African American Studies, the Culture and Theory Program, the Department of Women’s Studies as well as the Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies. She is a Research Associate at the Center for Comparative Immigration at UC San Diego as well as a member of the Organization of American Historian’s Committee on the Status of African American, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Historians and ALANA Histories.

Anti-Black violence

African American History

Humanities  

U.S. History

Juneteenth

Faculty Profile

Wikipedia Page

ResearchGate Profile

Historians on Housewives Podcast

New book challenges Civil War’s old myths

The New Norm for Back to School: Active-Shooter-Response Training

A ballot prop that could boost racial equity among university faculty

‘A people’s project’: UCI professors and HBCU students archive the work of living Black activists

UC Irvine panel discusses mourning, anti-black violence in response to Black Lives Matter protests, COVID-19

juneteenth-is-this-saturday-our-experts-can-help-with-your-coverage-and-questions

Associate Professor of History and African American Studies

 June 19 — Juneteenth — marks the day in 1865 that the Union Army announced in Texas that the African American slaves were free. Black Americans since then have honored the day, even as it has gone unnoticed by many others. 

 In 2020, Jessica Millward, an associate professor of history at UCI, appeared on the UCI Podcast to discuss the history behind Juneteenth, the decades upon decades of continued struggle, and the hope she feels in this moment.

 And if you’re a reporter covering this important date in American history – then let our experts help with your stories.

Dr. Jessica Millward is an Associate professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on comparative slavery and emancipation, African American history, gender and the law.  Dr. Millward is available to speak with media about Juneteenth – simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.



Juneteenth is this Saturday? Our experts can help with your coverage and questions

On June 3, 2020, three scholars at the University of California, Irvine reflected on the persistence of anti-Black violence and harm during the COVID-19 pandemic: Jessica Millward, associate professor of history; Sabrina Strings, associate professor of sociology; and Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, associate professor of African American studies. The event was moderated by Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, faculty director of the UCI Humanities Center.

"In this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh." Toni Morrison, Beloved

'Yonder they do not love your flesh': Mourning, Anti-Blackness, and Claiming All of Us

Select Inquiry Type