Evan Turiano (he/him) is a scholar of history, law, and politics with a focus on the nineteenth century United States. He received his Ph.D. in History from the Graduate Center, City University of New York in 2022. Professor Turiano’s research seeks to uncover how constitutional politics—using arguments about the Constitution's text, meaning, and creation to wield political power—have been deployed across American history in ways that fundamentally shape American law, even its most seemingly "fixed" elements. Professor Turiano’s first book will examine how conflicts over the legal rights of accused fugitives from slavery shaped American law. His research also considers early American gun regulation, the political and social circumstances that shaped early interpretations of the Second Amendment, and the role of history in modern Second Amendment jurisprudence. A graduate of Trinity College, Professor Turiano values lively, discussion-based classrooms and values collaborative research opportunities with students.

curriculum vitae

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles: 
    •    “Proslavery Constitutional Politics and the Making of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, 1793-1850.” Journal of the Early Republic (forthcoming)
    •    “‘Prophecies of Loss’: Debating Slave Flight during Virginia’s Secession Crisis.” Journal of the Civil War Era 12, no. 3 (September 2022), 338-361.
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters: 
    •    [with Brennan Gardner Rivas] “English Tradition, American Violence: The Origins of American Gun Regulation,” in American Violence: Histories, Structures, and Legacies, ed. Scott Gac and Caroline E. Light. Routledge. (2026, forthcoming)
    •    “Somerset, Subjection, and Reciprocal Rights in American Abolitionism,” in Somerset v. Steuart: Law, Politics, and Slavery in North America, ed. David Waldstreicher and Matthew Mason. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture/University of North Carolina Press (2026, forthcoming)
Digital Projects:
    •    [with Jennifer Tucker, Brennan Gardner Rivas, Joseph Stoltz and Kellen Heniford] “Firearms Use and Regulation in the 18th and 19th Centuries: Modeling the Application of Historical Methods of Law and Policy in the Bruen Era.” (forthcoming)
Review Essays: 
    •    “The ‘Reintegration’ Trap: Fugitives from Slavery and Synthesis in American History.” Reviews in American History 52 (3) (September 2024), 214-229.
Op-Eds and Public Writing:
    •    “Justice Jackson Offered Democrats a Road Map for Securing Equal Rights,” Washington Post: Made by History, October 10, 2022.
Recent Presentations:
    •    “Freedom or the Grave: Rights, Property, and Law on the Underground Railroad,” UMass Amherst Center for Justice, Law, and Societies, Amherst, MA, November 4, 2026 (forthcoming)
    •    “Concealed Carry Permits, Records Retention, and the Problem of Archives for the ‘History and Tradition’ Second Amendment,” New England Historical Association, Fairfield, CT, September 26, 2026 (forthcoming) 
    •    “The Shadow of Black Procedural Rights and the Development of Proslavery Constitutionalism,” Southern Historical Association Conference, St. Pete Beach, FL, November 5-8, 2025.
    •    “Freedom Seekers and Constitutional Crisis in the Secession Winter,” Conference on the Civil War/Porter Fortune Symposium, Oxford, MS, October 16-18, 2025.
    •    [with Brennan Gardner Rivas] “Historical Gun Laws Across Five States,” Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Guns and Society Conference, Middletown, CT, October 18-19, 2024.
    •    “The Politics of Fugitive Slave Rendition and the Coming of the Civil War,” Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Teleconference, October 30, 2023.
    •    “Somerset and Subjecthood, Allegiance and Protection: Rereading Black Legal Rights in the Revolutionary Era,” Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, For 2026: Contested Freedoms, Williamsburg, VA, October 27-28, 2023.

• Lapidus Long-Term Fellowship, Schomburg Center, NYPL, 2024
• Gilder Lehrman Scholarly Fellowship, Gilder Lehrman Institute, 2024
• Abraham Lincoln Association Hay-Nicolay Dissertation Prize, 2024
• Walter O. Evans Fellowship for the Study of Slavery or Race, Yale University, 2023
• Short-Term (4 month) Fellowship, John Carter Brown Library, 2023
• Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World Hines Dissertation Prize, 2023
• St. George Tucker Society Bradford-Delaney Dissertation Prize, 2023
• African American Studies Fellowship, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2020
• Andrew W. Mellon Research Fellowship, Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 2020
• Nau Center Library Fellowship, University of Virginia, 2020