Chelsea Berwick is spending time on two college campuses — and growing her support network — this semester as she works to complete her history honors thesis.
Berwick, a junior history secondary education major, was selected to participate in the McNeil Center for Early American Studies Consortium Undergraduate Research Workshop at the University of Pennsylvania this spring semester. The workshop provides a structured environment in which advanced undergraduates researching in the field of early American studies can meet each other, along with graduate students and faculty, to discuss ideas, source materials, and methods.
“This experience provides me with a new community to lean on for support,” Berwick says. “I now have 10 other students to turn to for advice in the process, and a mentor who is an expert on my topic’s time period.”
Her honors thesis, “We Are Persons, Not Things,” explores the ways in which Black people in the pre-civil war north protested and responded to biological racism; specifically, the types of protests that Black individuals participated in to actively fight against the notion of biological inferiority.
In addition to meeting a new support group, Berwick’s first visit to UPenn’s campus as part of the MCEAS workshop afforded her the opportunity to explore the Kislak Center for special collections, rare books, manuscripts, and other primary sources that would support her research.
Berwick applied for the workshop at the recommendation of her advisor, who believed that her research would provide an original and significant contribution to the historical scholarship of early American studies.
“I knew from my experience with Chelsea, both as her professor last semester and as her advisor this year, that she would make the most of the opportunity to have outside scholars review her work and provide her with additional research support,” Craig Hollander, associate professor of history, said.
“The experience of writing, receiving feedback, and revising has taught me to always seek opportunities to improve, and to never stop advancing my work,” Berwick said about the workshop. “It’s shown me the importance of resiliency and dedication.”
She and the other workshop participants will meet again in late April to present their findings in a conference-style setting.
— Leah Cruz ’26