jessica lu
Postdoctoral Associate, University of Maryland
jessica h. lu earned her Ph.D. in Communication (2018) and Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies (2015) from the University of Maryland, College Park. trained as a rhetorical critic, she examines the ideas and language practices that form, advance, and disrupt racist logics in public and political discourse (especially that which seems progressive) in the United States.
her current work is further positioned at the intersections of African American rhetorical history, archives, and digital humanities. she specializes in text encoding for historical documents and contemporary Black discourse, and additionally seeks to leverage digital tools and analysis in ways that amplify Black lives, center Black voices, and illuminate Black people’s innovative efforts to define, negotiate, and claim freedom.
she currently serves as a postdoctoral associate to the African American Digital Humanities (AADHum) initiative, as well as a research educator in the First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE) program at the University of Maryland.