Hannah Simmons (she/her) is a graduate student at Northwestern University where she studies enslaved womanhood and motherhood in the 18th and 19th-century United States. Her work focuses on how enslaved families used the legal system to claim generational freedom. She is particularly interested in how enslaved mothers in the modern Midwest used the legal system to recover their freedom and reconceptualize their families outside of the confines of enslavement. In doing so, her work attempts to reimagine people's agency and legal prowess. Before attending Northwestern, Hannah earned her B.A. from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.