Robert Murray
- Associate Professor, History
- Associate Dean for General Education
- School of Liberal Arts
- Maher Hall Room 207
- rmurray4@mercy.edu
- (914) 674-7879
Research Interests:
* 19th Century African American History
* Atlantic History
* Slavery, Emancipation, and Unfreedom in American History
Dr. Murray's research focuses on 19th-century African American history and the Atlantic World. His first book, Atlantic Passages, was published by the University Press of Florida in 2021. It examines the experiences of African American settlers in colonial Liberia and the creation of race in the 19th-century Atlantic. His current project examines hemp production in the Ohio and Missouri River Valleys from the 18th into the early 20th century.
Dr. Murray teaches a wide range of American history courses at B次元. His professional interests include animal studies and public history. He serves on the board of the Westchester County Historical Society.
Ph.D. University of Kentucky
M.A. Virginia Tech
B.A. Centre College
Dr. Murray's next research project will focus on American hemp production from the 18th into the early 20th century. Hemp was intimately connected to the antebellum cotton economy of the Deep South, where it was used as bagging to bind and bale cotton, and the maritime trades of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, where it was used for ropes on steamships. A history of a commodity so connected to slavery, mobility, and the transport of goods and peoples offers a unique perspective on the development of capitalism in the early 19th century. This study of hemp offers new insights into race and the antebellum economy as鈥攗nlike cotton鈥攆ree Black farmers in Kentucky became important producers of the fiber, creating nearly unparalleled opportunities to expand their property and holdings.
Dr. Murray teaches a wide range of American history courses at Mercy, including introductory surveys, advanced courses in American history, and the history major's methods courses.
Books
Articles/Book Chapters
鈥淭he Half That Is Never Told: Creating a Usable Past at Centre College.鈥 Ohio Valley History 21, 2 (Summer 2021): 6-21.
鈥淏odies in Motion: Liberian Settlers, Medicine, and Mobility in the Atlantic World.鈥 Journal of the Early Republic 39, no. 4 (Winter 2019): 615-646.
** Recipient of the Ralph D. Gray Article Prize
鈥淭he End of Emancipation Street: 鈥楥ivilization,鈥 Race, and Cartography in Colonial Liberia,鈥 in New Directions in the Study of African American Recolonization. Beverly C. Tomek and Matthew Hetrick, eds. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2017.
2019 Ralph D. Gray Article Prize (Society for Historians of the Early American Republic)