Sue Peabody

History is a story we tell ourselves about who WE are. I came to the study of French colonialism, slavery, race, and the law to understand the historical roots of racism and how we can overcome racial and class injustice today. I thank the Washington, DC public schools that I attended during the de-segregation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s for sensitizing me to racial prejudice and justice ... and also for teaching me the French language! Wesleyan University's College of Letters and the University of Iowa Department of History, pushed me investigate western colonialism and ideology and how power shapes knowledge. At Washington State University, I work to overturn common myths about history and to make the past relevant to students and readers today. I especially love the microhistory, which uses wonderful, strange episodes of the past to shed light on historical contexts and cultures of world peoples.