Emily Hawk, Ph.D.

Emily Hawk, Ph.D., is a twentieth century United States cultural historian and a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. 

Her current book project, "The Movements of Black Modern Dance: Choreography, Education, and Community Engagement, 1960-1976" examines how a cohort of Black choreographers intervened in discourse on race, cultural identity, and civic engagement by performing beyond conventional theatrical settings and engaging diverse national audiences. Hawk's work has appeared in the Journal of Urban History and the Journal of American Culture. 

Hawk is co-founder of the Histories of Dance Working Group of the Dance Studies Association. She is a contributor to the blogs of the Gotham Center for New York City History and the Society for U.S. Intellectual History, has written essays for Picturing Black History and Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America, and has published book reviews for The Nation, History Today, and The Carryall. 

Hawk's research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Smithsonian Institution, the Rockefeller Archives, the Society for U.S. Intellectual History, New York State Archives, Emory University, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. It has also earned accolades from the Dance Studies Association (Selma Jeanne Cohen Award), Popular Cultural Association (William M. Jones Award), and Western Association of Women Historians (Perry Graduate Poster Prize).

Hawk is committed to teaching and student mentorship, grounded by a love for the liberal arts. A 2021 finalist for Columbia's Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching and a Faculty Diversity Fellow, Hawk serves as an advisor to rural college applicants through the Fair Opportunity Project (2022-present) and is a former undergraduate academic advisor through Columbia's Center for American Studies (2019-2022).

Hawk holds a Ph.D. in U.S. History from Columbia University. She previosuly earned an M.A. with distinction in dance history at the University of Roehampton and a B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in dance and history from Franklin & Marshall College. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband Mark Harmon-Vaught, a higher education administrator.