Mélena “Mae” Laudig

Mélena “Mae” Laudig is Assistant Professor of African American Christianity in the History and Ecumenics Department at Princeton Theological Seminary. She seeks to reorient how students understand the religious histories of Black America by introducing them to marginalized figures and (seemingly) minor moments. Her teaching and research specializations include slavery and religion; early African American religious history; religion, race, and childhood; and gender, sexuality, and religion.

Currently, Laudig is at work on her first book manuscript. Titled “Children at the Crossroads: Black Childhood and Religion During Slavery and Freedom in South Carolina,” the book demonstrates the critical importance of children—as living beings and as spiritual ideas—to the metaphysical world-making of Black Southerners during slavery and its aftermath. This research has been supported by fellowships from the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving, and the Library Company of Philadelphia, among others.

Laudig completed her BA in Religious Studies from Yale University and earned both her MA and PhD in Religion from Princeton University, where she focused on Religion in the Americas and gained certificates in African American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies.