About
Sherri Burr is the author of over 30 books, including "Complicated Lives: Free Blacks in Virginia, 1619-1865," which was published in 2019 by Carolina Academic Press. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Princeton University, and the Yale Law School, Professor Burr retired from her tenure home, the University of New Mexico Law School, in 2017 to become a full -time author. She frequently lectures on topics related to history, copyrights and intellectual property law, and art and international law around the world. Burr is also serves as President of New Mexico Press Women and the Third Vice-President of the Aaron Burr Association. Burr has been admitted to Washington Library Fellowship Class of 2024-2025 to work on her new project related to what happened to the Mount Vernon enslaved population after the demise of George and Martha Washington.
Featured Work
Complicated Lives: Free Blacks in Virginia, 1619-1865
"Complicated Lives" explores the development of race relations in the United States starting with the arrival of Africans in 1619 into the Virginia Colony. The book challenges many longstanding myths such as all blacks were slaves, all whites were slaveholders, and the slave system was limited to the South before the conclusion of the Civil War. Rather the history of race relations is one of advancement and retreat in a never-ending cycle of injustice that continues to the modern era.
Other Works
Awards and Recognition
- Sherri Burr has been awarded a Washington Library Fellowship for 2024-2025. She will live on the grounds of Mount Vernon while working on her project related to what happened to the enslaved population following the demise of George and Martha Washington. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/fellowships/fellows-program/fellows/class-of-2024-2025/
