Biography

Leslie is a doctoral student in the History Department. She studies the racialization and self-identification of ethnic Mexicans in twentieth century Texas, especially in relation to transborder communities, state-sanctioned racial violence, and local and statewide civil rights activism. Her master’s thesis, “Challenging ‘Bad Sons of Uncle Sam’: Ethnic Mexican Mobilization and Acts of Resistance in Early Twentieth Century Texas,” evaluates the various forms of grassroots organizing and activism undertaken by ethnic Mexicans in the pursuit of racial and social justice. Leslie’s is a former RESI small grant recipient and in her dissertation, she plans to highlight the roles of ethnic Mexican women in greater national movements and racial hierarchies in the U.S. and Mexican Progressive Era. Due to their racialized and transborder backgrounds, Leslie’s dissertation will explore how ethnic Mexican women activists both aligned with and remained outsiders of greater women’s and civil rights’ movements in the early twentieth century.