PC history professor explores race, indigeneity, and the importance of understanding the past
To Dr. Jaclyn Sumner, associate professor of history at Presbyterian College, history is more than studying the events that have already taken place. While educating and researching, Sumner urges students to understand the experiences of people throughout history and realize how the past continues to influence the present.
After completing her Ph.D. from University of Chicago in 2014, Sumner joined the college that same year. She was fortunate to receive a tenure-track position right after graduate school and was attracted to PC because of its opportunities for research in addition to teaching.
Sumner loves the opportunity a small liberal arts school gives her to build relationships with students. She can get to know each student individually with the small class sizes the PC offers and create a personalized classroom experience. She also appreciates the close-knit environment of the history department.
“We get along so well,” Sumner said. “I believe our collegiality, and occasional goofiness, helps us to bring students to our major!”
Researching History and Challenging Perspectives
Sumner’s primary area of research studies race and Indigeneity in modern Mexican history. Her interest sparked while working alongside Mexican people in the food and beverage industry while in the Chicagoland area. This curiosity led her to live and conduct research in Mexico for several years.
In 2024, Sumner published her first book, Indigenous Autocracy: Power, Race, and Resources in Porfirian Tlaxcala, Mexico, through Stanford University Press. Sumner describes the love that went into creating this book and how proud she is to have completed it.
Sumner spends a lot of time in the archives where she analyzes historical documents to uncover new perspectives. Sumner enjoys examining and discovering information that contradicts previous societal historical assumptions.
What she finds most exciting is when a newly discovered document takes her research in a new direction. Of course, she also has a way of rewarding herself after a long day in the archives.
“And then I go get delicious tacos and a few chelas when I leave the archive,” Sumner said.
A good historian must be a good storyteller. That’s always my goal: to captivate my students with stories from the past and to get them to understand how the past affects their present day.”
Dr. Jaclyn Sumner, Associate Professor of History
Bringing History to Life
Sumner uses storytelling to teach history while in the classroom. She believes that, for a historian to be effective, they must be able to grasp the audience’s attention while helping people understand the connections between historical events and their own lives.
“A good historian must be a good storyteller,” Sumner said. “That’s always my goal: to captivate my students with stories from the past and to get them to understand how the past affects their present day.”
Aside from each individual lecture, Sumner enjoys watching students grow throughout their college experience. She hopes that PC prepares them for their path after graduation with the ability to read, write, and think critically.
She believes these skills are especially important as technology and artificial intelligence continue to change the job market.
Expanding Opportunities for Students
Sumner hopes that as the number of enrolled history majors nationwide declines, PC will continue to build on the success of the history department. She believes studying history creates thoughtful leaders in future careers.
Sumner hopes to continue to grow through the recently created minor in Race and Ethnic Studies, created last year. She is excited to grow the program and introduce students to different historical perspectives.
Some of her recent courses include Drugs in the Americas, Indigenous Politics in the Americas, Women in the Americas and Racial Justice in the U.S.
