CV
JONATHAN MICHAEL SQUARE
squaj264@newschool.edu
School of Art and Design History and Theory
Parsons School of Design
2 West 13th Street, Room L510C
New York, NY 10011
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENT
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BLACK VISUAL CULTURE
The New School / New York City, NY
Parsons School of Design
School of Art and Design History and Theory
August 2021 – Present
LECTURER
Harvard University / Cambridge, MA
Committee on Degrees in History & Literature
August 2017– May 2021
LECTURER
University of Pennsylvania / Philadelphia, PA
Department of History
August 2016 – May 2017
EDUCATION
PH.D., M.PHIL.
New York University / New York City, NY
Department of History
August 2009 – May 2016
M.A.
University of Texas at Austin / Austin, TX
Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies
August 2006 – May 2008
B.A.
Cornell University / Ithaca, NY
Department of History & Comparative Literature
August 2001 – May 2005
BOOK manuscript
Negro Cloth: How Slavery Birthed the American Fashion Industry
Duke University Press (2026)
PROJECTS
@FASHIONINGTHESELF
Fashioning the Self in Slavery and Freedom is a digital humanities project that examines the visual and material culture of slavery and its enduring legacy. The project operates both on a dedicated website and across social media platforms. I share archival images, articles, and videos with explanatory captions, engaging a diverse audience of academics, curators, costume designers, and artists. The project has also inspired exhibitions, conferences, limited-run zines, and speaking engagements.
@RENDERINGREVOLUTION
Rendering Revolution: Sartorial Approaches to Haitian History is a digital humanities project explores the intersections of fashion and visual culture with Haitian history, focusing on the Haitian Revolution. Like Fashioning the Self in Slavery and Freedom, Rendering Revolution lives primarily on social media while also maintaining a dedicated website. Most recently, my co-counder Siobhan Meï and I were awarded a grant from Parsons School of Design to curate the 2025 exhibition Revolisyon Toupatou at Parsons’ Kellen Gallery.
@NORTHSTAR.NYC
North Star is an artistic project in the guise of a fashion brand. Unlike Fashioning the Self in Slavery and Freedom, North Star focuses on making and embodied practices, drawing inspiration from my research on Afro-Diasporic fashion. North Star garments will be featured in the upcoming Redressing American Fashion exhibition at Columbia College, and the reinstallation of the permanent fashion collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
PUBLICATIONS
“DANDIES ON DISPLAY: LIVERY, LUXURY, AND THE ENSLAVED BODY”
In Superfine: Tailoring Black Style (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2025).
“LOOK AGAIN”
In Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art (New York: Scala, 2025).
“HISTORY: SOME REFLECTIONS ON ACCESS AND AUTHORSHIP”
In (Re)Dressing American Fashion: Wear as Witness (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2025).
“GUIDED BY EXU: THE CREATIVE ODYSSEY OF GUSTAVO NAZARENO”
For Orixás: Personal Tales on Portraiture (2024).
“’I LIKE SHE SHOULD BE DRESS’D PLAIN’”: DEFERENCE AND DEFIANCE IN THE MANY REPRESENTATIONS OF PHILLIS WHEATLEY
In Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North
(New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2023).
“THE TWO HARRIETS”
Ms. Magazine (March 2022).
“THE MOST TRYING ORDEAL”
Material Intelligence (September 2021).
“A PORTRAIT THAT SURVIVES THE TEST OF TIME”
Nicholas Hall Journal (June 2021).
“CULTURE, POWER, AND THE APPROPRIATION OF CREOLIZED AESTHETICS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY FRENCH ATLANTIC”
Small Axe (February 2021).
“LAYING THE GROUNDWORK: EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENSLAVED FASHION MAKERS”
In Black Fashion Designers in American Fashion (London: Bloomsbury, 2021).
“HOW ENSLAVED PEOPLE HELPED SHAPE FASHION HISTORY”
Guernica (December 2020).
“WILLIWEAR TO STREETWEAR”
In Willi Smith: Street Couture (New York: Rizzoli, 2020).
EXHIBITIONS
ALMOST UNKNOWN, THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN PICTURE GALLERY
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, 2025.
REVOLISYON TOUPATOU/RENDERING REVOLUTION
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery, Parsons School of Design, 2025.
PAST IS PRESENT: BLACK ARTISTS RESPOND TO THE COMPLICATED HISTORIES OF SLAVERY
Herron School of Art + Design, 2022–2023.
FREEDOM FROM TRUTH: SELF-PORTRAITS OF NELL PAINTER
Harvard University, 2019–2020.
ODALISQUE ATLAS: WHITE HISTORY AS TOLD THROUGH ART
Harvard University, 2019–2020.
SLAVERY IN THE HANDS OF HARVARD
Harvard University, 2019.
COURSEWORK
“HISTORY OF FASHION,” (Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023)
“TAKE BACK THE MUSEUM,” (Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2021, Spring 2020)
“BLACK VISUALITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE,” (Fall 2020, Fall 2019)
“MUSEUMS AND MATERIAL CULTURE,” (Spring 2019, Spring 2020)
“BLACK BEAUTY CULTURE,” (Spring 2017, Fall 2018)
“FASHION AND SLAVERY,” (Fall 2017, Fall 2019)
“FASHION AND JUSTICE,“ (Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021)
GRANTS & FELLOWSHIP
CASVA SENIOR FELLOWSHIP
National Gallery of Art, awarded and declined, 2024
FELLOW IN HISTORY OF ART AND VISUAL CULTURE
Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2021–2022
ELSON FAMILY ARTS INITIATIVE
Harvard University, 2019
PROVOSTIAL FUND FOR THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES
Harvard University, 2017
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP
Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, Rutgers University, awarded and declined, 2017–2018
JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP
American Philosophical Society, 2014–2015
GSAS MELLON DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP IN HISTORY
New York University, 2014–2015
GLOBAL RESEARCH INITIATIVES SUMMER FELLOWSHIP
New York University, 2014
MMUF PREDOCTORAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT GRANT
Mellon Foundation, 2013
GSAS PREDOCTORAL SUMMER FELLOWSHIP
New York University, 2012
MELLON PRE-DISSERTATION RESEARCH GRANT
New York University, 2011
TINKER FIELD RESEARCH GRANT
New York University, 2010
DEAN’S FELLOWSHIP
New York University, 2009–2014
MACCRACKEN FELLOWSHIP
New York University, 2009–2014
ADVISORY POSITIONS
EXHIBITIONS
Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art, Brooklyn Museum, 2024
Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2024–2015
Sunday Best, Art Gallery of Ontario, ongoing
Reinstallation of the American Wing, New Orleans Museum of Art, ongoing
DIGITAL HUMANITIES PROJECTS
The Fashion and Race Database, ongoing
Fanm Rebèl, ongoing
Connecting Threads, ongoing
EDITORIAL BOARDS
FASHION THEORY, Advisory Board
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FASHION, Editorial Board
Guest edited Issue 10.2 on Afro-Brazilian fashion
BLOOMSBURY, Fashion Central Editorial Advisory Board
RADICAL HISTORY REVIEW, Managing Editor, 2013-2014
COnsultancies & COLLABORATIONs
CANADA POST
Consulted on the design of a stamp of Chloe Cooley, 2023
DIOTIMA
Drafted their brand narrative, 2023
CAROLINA HERRERA
Delivered a series of talks for their design team during Black History Month, 2023
MOSAIC: GREG LAUREN x GEE’S BEND QUILTERS
Served as a consultant for the collaboration, 2022. Website.
PRESS & MEDIA APPEARANCES
RIVETED
Featured in a PBS documentary on denim, 2022
WALLPAPER
Featured in USA 400, “Keeper of Culture,” 2023, 2024
LANGUAGES
PORTUGUESE (reading, writing & speaking)
FRENCH (reading, writing)
SPANISH (reading)
HAITIAN KREYÒL (reading)