URI_Research _Magazine_Momentum_Spring_2020_Melissa-McCarthy

1763 – 1856

in African American History, and in early American history, all of which are useful in the way in which I frame lectures and in the ways that I can engage students’ questions within lectures,” he says. “When I’m teaching the history of slavery in America, for example, I’m charged with showing students not only the structure of slavery in Virginia, but the way in which slavery worked in the Atlantic world, or the way in which the early modern world changed over time. Students ask really compelling questions that force me to explain this in a general way.”

Nevius continues his research, some of which may reflect the history of his new home. “I’m beginning to understand just how invested Rhode Island was in the slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries,” he says. “There’s a lot left to know about people who were African and who lived in this state but were free. “I have a long-term interest in slavery in New England that I believe will round out my scholarship on the history of slavery. I don’t know what form that project will take, but it’s an interest I can’t shake.”

Marcus Nevius Assistant Professor History

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