Jessica Marie Johnson
historian. writer. professor. digital humanist. mama. daughter. sister. ecosystem witch obsessed with kinship.
My Story
“Tell your story.” What an impossible prospect!
I am a historian, writer, researcher, and feral artist, who is also a professor (Ph.D., University of Maryland), a director of antiracist and decolonial labs and projects (LifexCode), a teacher and a mentor.. When I write, research, teach, create, or guide and mentor, I try to do it from the sternum–full bodied, effervescent, holding me and you accountable to a higher purpose.
Books & more
Slavery
The story of freedom pivots on the choices black women made to retain control over their bodies and selves, their loved ones, and their futures. Purchase »
Data
Bringing together leading experts from across North America and Europe, Computational Humanities redirects debates around computation and humanities digital scholarship from dualistic arguments to nuanced discourse centered around theories of knowledge and power. Purchase »
Black Life
The Black Rican Studies special issue edited by members of the digital humanities lab and workshop Taller Entre Aguas. Purchase »
Slavery
The story of freedom pivots on the choices black womeThis special issue of archipelagos, “Slavery in the Machine,” sings out with that same defiance. In the face of environmental catastrophes, “unpayable debt” levied by a global north created out of plantation profits, police and military violence, and the continued predations of US empire, the Caribbean and its diaspora refuse death.n made to retain control over their bodies and selves, their loved ones, and their futures. Read now »
Data
The Black Scholar is proud to announce the release of “Black Code,” by guest editors Jessica Marie Johnson and Mark Anthony Neal. Johnson and Neal have assembled a collective of digital soothsayers working on the margins of Black Studies, Afrofuturism, radical media, and the digital humanities. Purchase »
Black Life
The stories we highlight in this micro-edition, from Catharina and her daughter Felicité, to the saga of María Juana and her battle against her owner, to the gatherings hosted by women like Mama Comba, to the resistance of men like Antoine, and more, are only a few of the stories that can be recovered from the tens of thousands of manuscript documents in archives across Louisiana’s archival institutions. This micro-edition barely scratches the surface of that deep and broad trove of documentation. Read Now »
The Kitchen Table History Newsletter*
*If you want to keep up with my random musings, updates, and studio projects, follow me here. We have a good time!
Research Posts, Marginalia, Community Offerings and dispatches from the Land of Women
“They don’t own our stories. We tell the stories of ourselves and always have. And I’m gonna tell the stories while I’m still here to tell em.” from “The Resegregation Orders (Tell the Stories)”
A weekly Office Hours Live and After Work Drinks (post-live audio and video)
“To me, Catharina’s message is clear: Be clever, be brave, and be present. To the rumors of freedom. To the strategies for resistance. To the joy (labeled licentiousness) that will keep you sane enough to fight back. Be present. Be HERE.” from “Office Hours: A Story of Sugar and Freedom”
(Some call me a digital humanist. here are a few labs i direct or co-direct)
Labs, Projects, and Ecosystem Witchcraft
LifexCode: Digital Humanities Against Enclosure
— An ecosystem of labs, projects, and members engaged in antiracist and decolonial digital humanities.
Keywords for Black Louisiana (K4BL)
— A collective of researchers, teachers, students, artists, and community partners building digital portals into Black and African diaspora life along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast
Black Beyond Data
— A multi-institutional collaboration engaging Blackness, Black life, Black studies and Black history and its relationship with data, the digital, and artificial humanities.
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Community Health Data Informatics Lab (Kim Gallon)
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Underwriting Souls (Alexandre White)
Diaspora Solidarities Lab
— An archipelago of Black feminist, community accountable projects that link Black diasporic, archipelagic, and Global South knowledge to communities invested in social justice, digital practice, and community organizing.
Award-Winning Projects
Taller Electric Marronage: 2020 Winner of the Garfinkel Prize in the Digital Humanities from the American Studies Association. Read the latest here.
Keywords for Black Louisiana: 2025 Winner of the Digital Projects Legacy Award from Digital Humanities Caucus of the American Studies Association. Read the congratulations post here.
Community, Kinship and Marronage in Practice
(My other freedom dreaming)
Studio Projects and Fantastic Schemes
Root/Water Studio: A space for grounding, collaboration, and creative dreaming. Electric roots and living archives.
UNFURL://Family Portrait
— “It is the feeling I get from the image. The way I always know my way back home, regardles of how far I’ve wandered.”
Earth. Water. Sun. Salt.
— Collage, assemblage, and altar/alter work.