About Me
Hello! I’m Jennifer Robin Terry, an author, historian, and heritage tourism enthusiast.
My work draws inspiration from ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. Most of my nonfiction work centers on the history of childhood, featuring the ways that adult actions have shaped childhood, while also exploring children's agency. See my publications page for a full list. My most recent article, “Niños por la causa: Child Activists and the United Farm Worker Movement, 1965-1975” was published by the Pacific Historical Review in 2023. It won the 2024 Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Article Prize and the CCWH Carol Gold Best Article Award.
Nonfiction history tells us what happened and why; good historical fiction conveys how it felt to live through those times. I am currently exploring what it felt like to live through World War II by writing a historical novel about Allied civilians (Americans, British, Australians, and Chinese, among others) who were held captive by the Japanese Imperial Army in Manila during the war. Based on a true story, the project draws on research that I conducted for my 2012 award-winning article, “They ‘used to tear around campus like savages’: Children’s and Youth’s Activities in the Santo Tomás Internment Camp, 1942-1945,” which was published in the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth. That article won the 2013 Neil Sutherland Prize in the History of Children and Youth.
When I am not writing, I work to promote the interests of women historians as the president of the Western Association of Women Historians (WAWH) and I volunteer with my local historical society. I love to travel and am a heritage tourism enthusiast. Heritage tourism is a fabulous way to gain appreciation for and get a sense of what life was like in the past.
Once upon a time, I worked in academia where I taught courses in various U.S. history subject matter as well as historical research and writing methodology at the University of California, Berkeley, at Sacramento State University, and at American River College. I have a B.A. and M.A. in History from Sacramento State University and a PhD in American History from the University of California, Berkeley.
Follow me on Instagram for book recommendations and interesting historical tidbits. Search for @jennifer_robin_historian or click on the Instagram icon below.
