Graduate Fellow
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Discipline: History

Tessara Dudley is an alum of the McNair Scholar Program at Portland State University. She graduated in 2017 with majors in Black Studies, Liberal Studies, and Social Science, and minors in Writing, and History.

Tessara brings a deep love of learning and a passion for equity wherever she goes. Determined to explore as much of the world as possible, she has worked in a dental lab, non-profit development and communications, student government, and the Portland State University Queer Resource Center. She started a micro-press in 2015 to publish socially conscious poetry and memoir; was a member of the Bread and Roses Feminist Collective at KBOO Radio; and has written for Black Girl Dangerous, and the Portland Observer. She has led workshops on poetry writing, oral storytelling, community representation, feminist zines, and disability justice.

Studying race, class and gender in labor history, Tessara hopes to foster in future students the same love of history that professors brought out in her. Her undergraduate research focused on the experiences of African-descended women in labor and the economy, and she plans to continue this work in graduate school.

Research Interests: Labor Organizing; Race, Class, and Gender in Labor History; 19th, 20th, & 21st Century Black Diaspora; Civil Rights; Decolonization and Nationalism; LGBTQ Community; Disability Studies

Contact: tessaradudley@gmail.com