Skip to main content
Eastern Illinois University

Staff Profile

Dr. Bonnie Laughlin-Schultz
Introduction My EIU Story Education & Training Publications Funding & Grants Frequently Taught Courses Research & Creative Interests Professional Affiliations Office Hours Update your profile

Dr. Bonnie Laughlin-Schultz

Professor & History with Teacher Licensure in Social Science Coordinator Office: 2556 - Coleman Hall
Email: blaughlinschul@eiu.edu

INTRODUCTION

I am a historian of the 19th century United States who specializes in in American women's history and the broad Civil War era. My first book, The Tie That Bound Us: The Women of John Brown's Family and the Legacy of Radical Abolitionism, was published in 2013 and was named a Kansas Notable Book in 2014. I have written articles and book chapters about the 19th century women's rights movement, the antislavery movement, Civil War memory, and other 19th century topics. I am currently at work on a book manuscript about antislavery activists and ideas of history in the United States prior to 1865. Here at EIU, I teach the US survey, American women's history, gender and sexuality history, Civil War era history, and social studies teaching methods, and I serve as coordinator for History with Teacher Licensure in Social Science. I also work with the Illinois Civics Hub as the Preservice Teacher Liaison and write about civics teaching topics for IllinoisCivics.org. 




 

 

 

My EIU Story

 

 

 

Education & Training

PhD, Indiana University, 2009
MA, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2000
BA, Knox College, 1998

 

 

Publications

  • "Having It All: Lucy Stone, Motherhood, and Woman's Rights," Women and Social Movements in the United States (Alexander Street Press, 2021)
  • "A Historical Inquiry into John Brown and His Raiders” (co-authored with Jay Bickford), in Teaching the Causes of the American Civil War, ed. Mike Karpyn et al. (Peter Lang, forthcoming)
  • “Confronting the Disconnect in Student Understanding of the Causes of the Civil War,” in Teaching the Causes of the American Civil War, ed. Mike Karpyn et al. (Peter Lang, forthcoming)
  • Is Justice Blind? An Inquiry into Judicial Decision Making in Flowers v. Mississippi
  • The Fate of Confederate Monuments in New Orleans, Illinois Civics Education Resource Site
  • "Women's Rights and Gender Ideology, 1848-1890," Routledge Companion to the Nineteenth Century, ed. Jonathan Wells (Routledge, 2018)
  • "Keep on Marching: The Women’s Marches of 1876, 1913, and 2017,” Nursing Clio, February 9, 2017, https://nursingclio.org/2017/02/09/keep-on-marchin-the-womens-marches-of-1876-1913-and-2017/
  • "How John Brown Smashed the Whiskey Barrel: John Brown's Children in Southern California and Memory of the American Civil War," California History 90 (fall 2015)
  • The Tie That Bound Us: The Women of John Brown's Family and the Legacy of Radical Abolitionism (Cornell University Press, 2013)
  • “John Brown’s Widow in Topeka: The Contested over Brown’s Legacy in Kansas in 1882 and Beyond,” Kansas History (2013)

 

 

Funding & Grants

Hanner Award for Teaching Excellence, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Eastern Illinois University, 2022

Faculty Development and Innovation Center Partnership Grant, Eastern Illinois University, 2017, 2021

Distinguished Honors Faculty Award, Eastern Illinois University Honors College, 2021

College of Arts and Sciences Travel Award, Eastern Illinois University, 2018, 2019, 2020

Council on Faculty Research Summer Grant, Eastern Illinois University, 2016, 2022

Redden Grant for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education, Eastern Illinois University, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022

Charlotte Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, 2008–2009

Fletcher Jones Foundation Huntington Research Fellow, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, 2008–2009

Ruth R. & Alyson R. Miller Fellowship, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2006–2007

James Madison Memorial Foundation Fellowship in American History, 1998–2000

 

 

Frequently Taught Courses

HIS 1101: Introduction to Historical Studies

HIS 2010G/2090G: The United States to 1877

HIS 2040G: US History -- Gender and Sexuality

HIS 3900: Women in American History

HIS 3930: The Civil War Era

SOS 3400: Social Studies Teaching Methods for Middle and Secondary Schools

HIS 5150: History of American Women, Gender, and Sexuality

HIS 5340: The Long 19th Century

 

 

 

Research & Creative Interests

I am currently at work on a book manuscript about antislavery activists and ideas of history in the United States prior to 1865 as well as at work on curricular materials for middle level and secondary teachers to use when teaching about the so-called "history wars." 

 

 

Professional Affiliations

Society for Historians of the Early Republic

Organization of American Historians

National Council for the Social Studies

Illinois Council for the Social Studies

National Council for History Education

Office Hours

Office Hours for Spring 2024:

8-9am and 11am-12pm on Tuesdays, 2-3pm on Wednesdays, 11am-12pm on Thursdays, & by appt

F2F in Coleman 2556 or virtually via Zoom (email me for the link)