Dr. Laura Visser Maessen

Biography

Laura Visser-Maessen specializes in African American history and civil rights, teaching a variety of topics related to American history and culture. Her focus encompasses literature, cultural memory, American political tradition, and social justice movements, including anti-racism in a trans-Atlantic context. She holds a BA and MA in American Studies from Radboud University and a BA and MA degree in British Language and Culture from the same institution. Additionally, she attended classes at the African-American Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and obtained her PhD on the African-American freedom struggle in the 1960s from the History Department of Leiden University in 2013. Visser-Maessen worked as a lecturer at the BA and MA levels in the History and American Studies Departments at Utrecht University, and joined the American Studies Department at Radboud University in 2016. Her book, "Robert Parris Moses: Life and Civil Rights Leadership Grassroots," examines the life of civil rights activist Bob Moses and offers insights into his leadership strategies. Her current research focuses on organizing strategies of Black activists in Western Europe during the 20th and 21st centuries and their connections to Black America.

Research Interests

Experience