Geneva Smith

I am fascinated by how race, law, and history intersect. My first book project examines how courts that exclusively tried the crimes of enslaved people racialized the development of criminal defense rights across America and the British Caribbean.

I received my BA from Columbia University. In May 2026, I earned my PhD in History from Princeton University and my JD from Yale Law School. At Princeton, I won the Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship, the top honor for graduate students. Before starting graduate school, I worked in the museum industry as well as in the fashion industry.