Barbara D. Savage

Barbara Dianne Savage (born 1953) is an acclaimed author, historian, and the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses on:

• 20th-century African American history
• American religious and social reform movements
• The relationship between media and politics
• Black women’s political and intellectual history

Dr. Savage holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a Ph.D. in history from Yale University. Prior to graduate school, she worked in Washington, D.C., as a congressional staffer and for the Children’s Defense Fund. While at Yale, she also served as Director of Federal Relations in the Office of the General Counsel.

In 2017, she was appointed the Harmsworth Visiting Professor of American History at the University of Oxford, a prestigious position established in 1922.