Wallace Johnson First Book Program

Criteria

Scholars working toward the publication of first books in legal history.

Amount

Fellowship funding for travel and accommodation.

Deadline

TBD

 

The biennial Wallace Johnson Program for First Book Authors provides advice and support to scholars working toward the publication of first books in legal history, broadly defined. In conversation with peers and with the advice of senior scholars, participants develop and revise book proposals and sample chapters, as well as meeting with guest editors to learn about approaching and working with publishers.

The Johnson Program is open to early career, pre-tenure scholars, publishing in English, who have completed PhDs, JDs, or equivalent degrees. Scholars with expertise in all chronological periods and geographical fields are encouraged to apply, as are applicants who may not (yet) identify as legal historians. The Program provides substantial travel and accommodation funding to support attendance at Program meetings.

Admission to the Wallace Johnson program is biannual. The next cohort will be selected in summer 2023, and the call for applications for the program can be found below.

The program includes the following elements:

  • Fall 2023 (October 26, 2023): in-person, one-day, pre-conference workshop at the ASLH Annual Meeting (Philadelphia, PA), introduction to book publishing and proposal writing;
  • Spring 2024 (date TBD): remote meeting, feedback from program leader and peers on draft book proposal;
  • Summer 2024 (date TBD): in-person, two-day workshop on draft chapters at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA); and
  • Fall 2024 (October 24): in-person, half-day, pre-conference workshop at the ASLH Annual Meeting (San Francisco, CA).

The 2023-24 Johnson Program will be led by Professor Christopher Schmidt, with the participation of other senior legal historians.

Up to 5 Fellows will be selected. Fellows must commit to participation in all elements of the program. Each will receive substantial funding for travel and accommodation related to the program, with a small supplement to participants who do not have institutional support for travel and research.

The application deadline is July 14, 2023. Applicants should submit items 1-3 as a single pdf document, Times New Roman, 12-point font, with your full name in a header on each page. All materials should be submitted to Sam Erman (stcerman@gmail.com) by July 14, 2023.

  1. Applicant Information Sheet (in lieu of cover letter).
  • Personal Information: first name; last name; current mailing address; phone; email address; current institution; current position; institutional affiliation for 2023-24.
  • Education: month and year of graduate degree, institution, and field: Ph.D.; J.D.; other.
  • Funding: If selected for the Wallace Johnson program, would you have access to university or other institutional funds to help cover the costs of attending the program? Yes, No, Don’t Know. Comments or relevant details. We are committed to enabling fellows from a range of institutional positions to participate in the program. Your answer here will have no effect on your candidacy, but will enable us to provide small supplements to participants without institutional support.

 

  1. Abridged Curriculum Vitae(limited to 2 pages).

 

  1. Project Description (single spaced; not exceeding 1,000 words) organized with the following sections and addressing these questions. We are looking for candid self-reflection. You should think of this document as the first step in the revision, rethinking process.
  • Author Bio. Tell us about yourself, including your position and commitments for the fellowship year (remember, we’ll have your cv).
  • Dissertation (or other substantial piece of writing). Title? What was your dissertation (or other writing) about? What was its argument? What was its arc? What were its original contributions?
  • Working title? What changes are you imagining for the book in terms of conceptualization, structure, narrative, or arc? Are you planning additional research and/or new chapters? How are you imagining the book’s audience? What stage are you at in your work on the book?

Two letters of recommendation submitted separately. Please ask two scholars who know your work well to write a letter of recommendation. We recommend that at least one letter come from a faculty member who was a major advisor of the dissertation (or other writing). Letters should be sent by email directly to Sam Erman (stcerman@gmail.com) and received no later than July 14, 2023.

 

 

Committee Members

  • Sam Erman
    USC Gould School of Law

  • Christopher Schmidt
    Chicago-Kent College of Law

  • Kurt Graham
    National Archives and Records Administration

  • Lisa Ford
    University of New South Wales

  • Nate Holdren
    Drake University

  • Rohit De
    Yale University

  • Laura Kalman
    University of California, Santa Barbara

Past Recipients

2023-24

Sanne Ranvensbergen (University of Michigan)

Mixed Courts and the Materials of Law in Colonial Indonesia

2023-24

Noah Rosenblum (New York University)

Presidential Administration and Democracy, 1877-1939

2023-24

Larissa Kopytoff (University of South Florida)

Contested Claims: Law, Islam, and Citizenship in French Colonial Senegal

2023-24

Ellen Nye (Harvard University)

Hierarchies of Capital: Monetary Governance in a Globalizing World

2023-24

Caleb Smith (Mt. Holyoke College)

Been on the Shop Floor Too Long: Black Labor After the 1964 Civil Rights Act

2021-22

Raha Rafii (University of Exeter)

Imagining the Islamic Judge: The Legal Genre of Adab al-qādī

2021-22

Timo McGregor (Yale University)

Controlling Cosmopolitans: Mobility and Political Community in the Dutch Atlantic, 1621-1688

2021-22

Maeve Glass (Columbia University)

Water Ground: The Making of an American Union, 1631 to 1860

2021-22

Myisha S. Eatmon (Harvard University)

Litigating in Black and White: Black Legal Culture, White Violence, Jim Crow, and Their Legacies

2021-22

Brooke Depenbusch (University of Illinois, Springfield)

General Relief and the Politics of Precarity in the Shadow of the Welfare State, 1935-1978

2019-20

Adnan Zulfiqar (Rutgers, Camden)

Collective Duties in Islamic Law: The Moral Community, State Authority and Ethical Speculation in the Premodern Period

2019-20

Evan Taparata (University of Pennsylvania)

State of Refuge: Refugee Law and the Modern United States

2019-20

Kalyani Ramnath (Harvard University)

Boats in a Storm: Law and Displacement in Postwar South Asia

2019-20

Amanda Kleintop (Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts)

The Balance of Freedom: Abolishing Property Rights in Slaves after the US Civil War

2019-20

Marie Amelie George (Wake Forest)

Deviant Justice: The Transformation of Gay and Lesbian Rights in America

2019-20

Pedro Cantisano (Kenyon College)

Rio de Janeiro on Trial: Law and Urban Reform in Modern Brazil

2018-19

Kevin Arlyck (Georgetown University)

Judging Sovereignty: The Federal Courts and Foreign Affairs in the Age of Revolution

2018-19

Winston Bowman (Federal Judicial Center)

A Nation of Courts: Federal Judicial Power and the Politics of Independence, 1861-1891

2018-19

Wesley Chaney (Bates College)

Stolen Land, Broken Bodies: Law, Environment, and Violence in Northwest China

2018-19

Trina Leah Hogg (Oregon State University)

“Our Country Customs”: Law and Trade in Southern Sierra Leone, 1861-1915

2018-19

Amanda Hughett (University at Buffalo)

Silencing the Cell Block: The Making of Modern Prison Policy in North Carolina and the Nation

2018-19

Elizabeth Lhost (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

The Office of Islamic Law: Paperwork, Politics, and Possibilities in Modern South Asia, 1800-1950