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. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. She is known for her works on American and

African-American history African-American history began with the arrival of Africans to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. Former Spanish slaves who had been freed by Francis Drake arrived aboard the Golden Hind at New Albion in California in 1579. The ...

, 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 ...

, and their connections with

decolonization Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...

Education and career

Von Eschen graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

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

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

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 (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply 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 org ...

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 research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

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

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

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

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

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 American va ...

program of the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

, ''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 M ...

, 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