NW Missouri Times

Dr. Elyssa Ford, an associate professor of history at Northwest Missouri State University, has been recognized for her article in a peer-reviewed journal publishing scholarly work about the American Midwest. Ford was announced on May 28 as the John E. Miller Prize recipient for the best article of 2023 in Middle West Review.

The article discusses The Call, one of the largest and most successful Black newspapers in the country, and its inclusion of stories about Black female college students and other items that aligned with the 1950s model of women as wives and mothers. It mirrored the presentation of ideal womanhood appearing in white newspapers. Ford argued that presenting Black women and Black families as middle class challenged popular conceptions of Blackness in that era.

Ford is a social and cultural historian with academic interests in gender, sexuality, and the American West. She teaches courses in U.S. history and women’s history in addition to directing the public history and museum studies program at Northwest. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in international studies from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and holds a graduate certificate in museum studies, a master’s degree, and a doctorate in history from Arizona State University.

She has also authored two books.