VanJessica Gladney

Title: Historian/Researcher

VanJessica Gladney is a third-year graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in History at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work focuses on examining the ways enslaved women navigated through legal spaces to find avenues to freedom. In 2021, she became a recipient of the inaugural class of Presidential PhD Fellows. Her student leadership roles includes her positions as as Co-President of the William Fontaine Fellowship Society and Chief Editor of the Penn & Slavery Project Editorial Board. Outside of her personal research, VanJessica serves as the Digital Historian for the Penn & Slavery Project, and conducts archival research for the Story Map as part of the William Still 200 Project, and the Mask We Wear Project within Digital Freedom Dreams.