Hello, My name is Mikayla Harden and I am a 2nd year graduate student at the University of Delaware. As a graduate student, I am pursuing my master’s in history; focusing on the Black childhood experience in the 18th and 19th century. Before Delaware, I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with departmental honors in African and African Diaspora Studies. I have an academic interest in gender, race, and medicine centering the experience of Black children. Additionally, I am also interested in learning about the Atlantic world, especially the Francophone and Anglophone nations. After I graduate from the University of Delaware, I plan to pursue a PhD that will allow me to combine my research interests in medicine, gender, and law, so I can eventually become a college professor.

While at the University of Texas at Austin, I had the opportunity of working under Dr. Daina Ramey Berry where we researched the slave cadaver trade. One of her graduate students (now a professor) Nakia Parker received a dissertation fellowship from the Library Company and spoke so highly of its programs as well as its collections. From this point, I kept the Library Company on my radar. This spring, I was fortunately selected to participate in the Mellon Scholar Internship remotely. Even though my internship is work-from-home, the experience has opened my eyes to the plethora of sources, scholars, and opportunities that Library Company hosts.