SONIA SONG-HA LEE
Department of History
Washington University in St. Louis
2883 Neil Ave #442C
Columbus OH 43202
EMPLOYMENT
Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis, 2009-present
Mellon/Consortium for Faculty Diversity Post-Doctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor,
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, 2007-2009
EDUCATION
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Ph.D., U.S. History, 2007
University of California, Berkeley, CA
B.A., U.S. History, May 1999
B.A. with Honors, Molecular and Cell Biology, May 1999
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
John W. Kluge Fellowship, Library of Congress, 2013-14
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend, 2013
Gephardt Institute Community-Based Teaching and Learning Grant, 2010
Larry J. Hackman Research Residency Grant, 2009
Graduate Society Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2006-7
Charles Warren Center Dissertation Writing Grant, 2005-6
City University of New York Caribbean Exchange Program Research Grant, 2005
Charles Warren Center Term Time Research Grant, 2004
A. H. Leon Higginbotham Summer Research Grant, 2004
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Racial and ethnic identity constructions, civil rights, labor, immigration, and urban history
PUBLICATIONS
Building a Latino Civil Rights Movement: Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Justice (The
University of North Carolina Press, forthcoming, 2014).
“Evelina Antonetty and the United Bronx Parents: Community Control and the Possibilities of a New
World” in Beyond the Burning – Blacks and Puerto Ricans in the Bronx: Community, Activism, Culture and
Identity in New York City's Northern Borough, ed. Brian Purnell, Fordham University Press
(forthcoming).
“Paternalism & Revolution: Building Power and Competence in a Hospital Workers’ Union” in Journal
of Social History, under revision.
Review of Luis Alvarez, The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance During World War II (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2008) in Reviews in American History, March 2009.
“ ‘I Was the One Percenter:’ Manny Diaz and the Beginnings of a Black-Puerto Rican Coalition,” coauthored with Ande Diaz, Journal of American Ethnic History, 26: 3 (Spring 2007): 52-80.
CONFERENCE PAPERS
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“Diagnosing Difference: Psychologists, Psychiatrists and the Medicalization of Political Dissent, 195480,” American Studies Association Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 2012.
“Protest Cultures & Race-Making: The Deployment of Black Nationalism in New York City Public
Schools, 1966-71,” American Studies Association Conference, Baltimore, MD, October 2011.
“The War on Poverty, Social Workers, and the Building of an African American-Puerto Rican
Coalition,” Organization of American Historians Conference, Houston, TX, April 2011.
“Building a Consciousness of Resistance: Puerto Ricans’ Shifting Racial and Ethnic Identities, 196065,” Puerto Rican Studies Association Conference, Hartford, CT, October 2010.
“From the ‘Showcase of Democracy’ to the Civil Rights Struggle: The Transformation of Puerto
Ricans’ Political Consciousness, 1950s-70s,” Puerto Ricans in U.S. History Conference, Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, NJ, May 2010.
“Democratizing History: Beyond the Celebration of ‘Agency,’” Oral History Association Conference,
Pittsburgh, PA, October 19th, 2008.
“‘A Mississippi Plantation Right Here in New York City:’ Puerto Rican and African American Labor
Organizing in Local 1199,” Puerto Rican Studies Association Conference, San Juan, Puerto
Rico, October 2nd, 2008.
“ ‘Eso es de lo negro:’ The Color of Puerto Rican Politics in New York City, 1960s and 1970s,” Beyond
Visibility: Rethinking the African Diaspora in Latin America Conference sponsored by the
Afro-Latino Working Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA, March 2007.
“Through Walls and Mirrors: What School Integration and Community Control Meant for Blacks and
Puerto Ricans in New York City, 1950s-70s” Oral History Association 39th Annual Meeting,
Providence, RI, November 2005.
“Between Black and Boricua: The Experience of Black and Puerto Rican Women in the International
Ladies Garment Workers’ Union, New York City, Early 1960s,” Labor and Working-Class
History Association Conference, Toronto, Canada, October 2005.
“Rediscovering Racial Inequality: African-American Reactions to the Japanese-American Internment
and Resettlement in California,” “Blacks and Asians: Encounters Through Time and Space”
Conference, Boston University, Boston, MA, April 2003.
INVITED LECTURES
“A Turn to the Left and the Right: The Breaking of a Black-Latino Coalition & the Institutionalization
of Power in New York City’s Public Schools, 1969-1973,” City Seminar, Washington University
in St. Louis, November 2011.
“Remembering the St. Louis Civil Rights Movement: Why Does History Matter?” Brittany Woods
Middle School Teacher Workshop, Washington University in St. Louis, September 2010.
“Understanding Deviance and Conformity: Social Workers and Civil Rights Activists in New York City,
1950s-70s,” Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, October 2009.
“Loisaida: Locating the Lowest East Side within the Civil Rights Movement,” Tenement Museum, New
York, NY, January 2008.
“Beyond a ‘Collaboration v. Competition’ Framework: Blacks and Puerto Ricans in New York City,
1960s,” Latino Seminar, Haverford College, Haverford, PA, November 2007.
“‘I Am Proud to Be Maladjusted’: What School Integration and Community Control Struggles Meant
for Blacks and Puerto Ricans,” Center for Puerto Rican Studies, New York, NY, May 17, 2006.
“Naming One’s Enemy: The Development of Black and Puerto Rican Female Workers’ Political
Resistance, NYC, 1960s,” “Race and Democracy: New Challenges in the Americas
Conference,” sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, University
of California, Los Angeles, CA, April 2006.
SERVICE ACTIVITIES
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Washington University in St. Louis
Co-coordinator with Carla Alexander, Tillie’s Corner Historical Project, 2010-12
Undergraduate Advisor, History Minor, History Department, 2011-12
Advisor, Senior Theses in History: Daniel Rosenbaum, 2010-11; David Levine, 2011-12
Advisor, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow: Elizabeth Jordan, 2010-12
Member, Advisory Committee, History Department, 2010-11
Member, Latin American History Search Committee, History Department, 2009-10
Panelist, “Building Communities and Producing Knowledge: Risks and Results of Community-based
Learning,” iTeach, Exchanging Ideas on Teaching Conference, January 2012.
Moderator, “Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth,” Film showing and discussion, November 2011.
Panelist, “What Can U.S. American Culture Studies Learn from Latin American Studies, and Vice
Versa?,” American Culture Studies Program Dinner, October 2011.
Panelist, “ ‘Proud to Be Maladjusted’: Puerto Ricans, Black Americans, and the Building of a Latino
Civil Rights Movement,” Race Across the Atlantic Conference, April 2011.
Panelist, “Muslims and the Rise of the New Right: Changing Perceptions of Islam in America,”
Controversy N’ Coffee, October 2010.
Swarthmore College
Moderated and Co-organized workshop with undergraduate students from the Swarthmore Asian
Organization, “The Problem that Has No Name: Asian American Politics at Swarthmore,”
March 2008.
Moderated and Co-organized workshop with Ande Diaz, “Cross-Cultural Alliance-Building: A Case
Study of Manny Diaz,” February 2008.
Organized lecture by guest speakers Stephen Levin and Miguel “Mickey” Melendez, “Allies and
Outsiders: How Can White Folks Work with Communities of Color?” January 2008.
Panelist, “Asian American Women and Self-Silencing in Classrooms,” December 2007.
Organized lecture by guest speaker Malia Villegas, “What Does It Mean to Be a Successful Student?
Perspectives from Alaska Native Community Leaders,” November 2007.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Blacks, Latinos & Afro-Latinos
Building St. Louis Oral History
The Long Civil Rights Movement
The Psychology of Race and Class
Race and Poverty in the U.S., 1945-Present
Religion and Social Change in the U.S.
For Freedom’s Sake: African American History since Emancipation
Freedom, Citizenship, and the Making of American Life
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY
Advisory Board Member, Education Department, Tenement Museum, New York City, NY, Fall 2008 –
present.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Member, American Historical Association
Member, Organization of American Historians
Member, American Studies Association
Member, Puerto Rican Studies Association
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