By way of Palmyra, NJ and Cheswold, DE, Dr. Ridgway is of Black and Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape descent from Philadelphia, PA. They are a multidisciplinary historian with a mixed-methods background in discourse analysis, archival research methods, and creative writing, based in Cambridge, MA.

Currently, they are a Mellon Foundation ACLS Leading Edge Fellow and Research Associate at PHI where they support various applied research and communication projects with a focus on qualitative and narrative analyses. They work primarily on projects related to the Direct Care Worker Equity Institute and the Direct Care Worker Story Project. They earned their M.A and Ph.D in History, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. They earned their B.A in Psychology and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Swarthmore College.

Prior to PHI, Dr. Ridgway was a lecturer in History and Literature at Harvard University where they taught undergraduate courses in American Studies and Ethnic Studies related to colonialism, gender, and Indigeneity, as well as methods courses in archival and literary methods. Previously, they were an Andrew W. Mellon Native American Scholars Initiative (NASI) Predoctoral Fellow, Humanities Research Institute (HRI) Graduate Fellow, and general editor for the poetry magazine Kissing Dynamite.

As a writer, Dr. Ridgway is primarily interested in grief, love, and the perpetual search for utopia. They write in multiple genres including creative nonfiction, poetry, short fiction, and academic scholarship. Regardless of genre, Dr. Ridgway is concerned with the work of living, how we survive the unsurvivable, and the joy of racing toward the future. Their work can be found or is forthcoming in Women’s Studies Quarterly, Diode Poetry Journal, The Blog of the Journal of the History of Ideas, and elsewhere. (see Writing).

In addition to their writing, Dr. Ridgway’s voice and expertise has been featured in various news outlets and podcasts, such as NPR-affiliate WHYY, as well as public lecture series (see Media).