Dr. Bonnie Laughlin-Schultz
Professor & History with Teacher Licensure in Social Science Coordinator Office: 2556 - Coleman HallEmail: blaughlinschul@eiu.edu
INTRODUCTION
I am a historian of the 19th century United States who specializes in in American women's history and the broad Civil War era. My first book, The Tie That Bound Us: The Women of John Brown's Family and the Legacy of Radical Abolitionism, was published in 2013 and was named a Kansas Notable Book in 2014. I have written articles and book chapters about the 19th century women's rights movement, the antislavery movement, Civil War memory, and other 19th century topics. Here at EIU, I also serve as coordinator for History with Teacher Licensure in Social Science.
Spring 2025 Office Hours:
Monday 10am-11:30am; Tuesday 8-8:30am; 11am-12pm; 2-3pm; Thursday 11am-12pm, & by appt, in Coleman 2556 or via Zoom (email me for the Zoom link, please)
My EIU Story
Education & Training
PhD, Indiana University, 2009
MA, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2000
BA, Knox College, 1998
Publications
- Teaching the Civil War: Disrupting the Conventional Antislavery Narrative and Engaging Students in Visual Analysis, Muster: How the Past Informs the Present, Blog, Journal of the Civil War Era, November 26, 2024
- “Redesigning for Justice: Rethinking Our Curriculum and Expanding the Purposes of History Education” (co-authored with Sace Elder), Journal of American History 110 (March 2024), 729-738
- "Having It All: Lucy Stone, Motherhood, and Woman's Rights," Women and Social Movements in the United States (Alexander Street Press, 2021)
- "A Historical Inquiry into John Brown and His Raiders” (co-authored with Jay Bickford), in Teaching the Causes of the American Civil War, ed. Mike Karpyn et al. (Peter Lang, forthcoming)
- “Confronting the Disconnect in Student Understanding of the Causes of the Civil War,” in Teaching the Causes of the American Civil War, ed. Mike Karpyn et al. (Peter Lang, forthcoming)
- Is Justice Blind? An Inquiry into Judicial Decision Making in Flowers v. Mississippi
- The Fate of Confederate Monuments in New Orleans, Illinois Civics Education Resource Site
- "Women's Rights and Gender Ideology, 1848-1890," Routledge Companion to the Nineteenth Century, ed. Jonathan Wells (Routledge, 2018)
- Keep on Marching: The Women’s Marches of 1876, 1913, and 2017, Nursing Clio, February 9, 2017
- "How John Brown Smashed the Whiskey Barrel: John Brown's Children in Southern California and Memory of the American Civil War," California History 90 (fall 2015)
- The Tie That Bound Us: The Women of John Brown's Family and the Legacy of Radical Abolitionism (Cornell University Press, 2013)
- “John Brown’s Widow in Topeka: The Contested over Brown’s Legacy in Kansas in 1882 and Beyond,” Kansas History (2013)
Funding & Grants
Hanner Award for Teaching Excellence, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Eastern Illinois University, 2022
Faculty Development and Innovation Center Partnership Grant, Eastern Illinois University, 2017, 2021
Distinguished Honors Faculty Award, Eastern Illinois University Honors College, 2021
College of Arts and Sciences Travel Award, Eastern Illinois University, 2018, 2019, 2020
Council on Faculty Research Summer Grant, Eastern Illinois University, 2016, 2022
Redden Grant for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education, Eastern Illinois University, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
Charlotte Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, 2008–2009
Fletcher Jones Foundation Huntington Research Fellow, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, 2008–2009
Ruth R. & Alyson R. Miller Fellowship, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2006–2007
James Madison Memorial Foundation Fellowship in American History, 1998–2000
Frequently Taught Courses
HIS 1101: Introduction to Historical Studies
HIS 2010G/2090G: The United States to 1877
HIS 2040G: US History -- Gender and Sexuality
HIS 3900: Women in American History
HIS 3930: The Civil War Era
SOS 3400: Social Studies Teaching Methods for Middle and Secondary Schools
HIS 5150: History of American Women, Gender, and Sexuality
HIS 5340: The Long 19th Century
HIS 5390: The Civil War Era
Research & Creative Interests
I am currently at work on a book manuscript about antislavery activists and ideas of history in the United States prior to 1865 as well as at work on curricular materials for middle level and secondary teachers to use when teaching about the so-called "history wars."
Professional Affiliations
Society for Historians of the Early Republic
Organization of American Historians
Society for Civil War Historians
National Council for the Social Studies
Illinois Council for the Social Studies
National Council for History Education
Office Hours
Monday 10am-11:30am; Tuesday 8-8:30am; 11am-12pm; 2-3pm; Thursday 11am-12pm, & by appt, in Coleman 2556 or via Zoom (email me for the Zoom link, please)