DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Mila Kaut is a doctoral student in U.S. History and a Mellon Cluster Fellow in Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her research focuses on the intersections of race, gender, and public memory in the Midwest in the late-19th century. She is particularly interested in the relationships between historic preservation, commemorative culture, and the politics of citizenship since the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. 

 

Mila completed her B.A. in History, Music, and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa in 2019. As an undergraduate, she co-organized the Iowa Colored Conventions Project (IA-CCP) and focused her violin studies on investigating and dismantling white supremacy in classical music. Her senior thesis traced the relationships between the African Methodist Episcopal churchbuilding movement and Black print culture in Iowa to examine how Black women constructed and leveraged citizen identities. Prior to graduate school, she worked to merge historical inquiry, community engagement, and policy research as a Lead For America Hometown Fellow in Des Moines, IA.