Penny Marie Von Eschen is an American historian and Professor of History and William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of American Studies at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. She is known for her works on American and

African-American history African-American history started with the forced transportation of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Africans to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. The European colonization of the Americas, and the resulting Atlantic slave trade, ...

, American diplomacy, the

history of music Although definitions of music vary wildly throughout the world, every known culture partakes in it, and it is thus considered a cultural universal. The origins of music remain highly contentious; commentators often relate it to the origin of la ...

, and their connections with

decolonization Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...

Education and career

Von Eschen graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1982. She completed a Ph.D. from the department of history at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1994; her dissertation was ''African-Americans and colonialism, 1937–1957: The rise and fall of the politics of the African diaspora''. She was an assistant professor of history at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

from 1994 to 1996, and at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

from 1996 to 1999. Next, she became an associate professor of history and American culture at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, and was promoted to professor there in 2006. In 2015 she moved to

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

as the L. Sanford and Jo Mills Reis Professor of Humanities, before moving again to Virginia.

Books

Von Eschen's book on trumpeter

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and the

Jazz ambassadors Jazz ambassadors is the name often given to jazz musicians who were sponsored by the US State Department to tour Eastern Europe, the Middle East, central and southern Asia and Africa as part of cultural diplomacy initiatives to promote Culture of ...

program of the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

, ''Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War'' (2004) was first runner-up for the John Hope Franklin Publication Prize for the Best Book in American Studies in 2005. A feature-length documentary film, ''The Jazz Ambassadors'' (2018), was inspired in part by the book, and Von Eschen herself appears as a commentator in the film. She also wrote ''Race against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937–1957'' (1997). Von Eschen is coeditor of ''Contested Democracy: Freedom, Race, and Power in American History'' (2007) and of ''American Studies: An Anthology'' (2009).''American Studies: An Anthology'' (edited with

Janice Radway Janice Radway (born January 29, 1949) is an American literary and cultural studies scholar. Education Radway holds a BA from Michigan State University, 1971, and an MA from State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1972. She earned her PhD from ...

, Kevin Gaines, and Barry Shank), Wiley, 2009, . Review: *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Von Eschen, Penny Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American historians American women historians Northwestern University alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of Iowa faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty University of Michigan faculty Cornell University faculty University of Virginia faculty 21st-century American women