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About Me

Krystyn Moon is a professor of history and director of American Studies at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Her teaching and research include US immigration history, popular culture, race and ethnic studies, foodways, gender and sexuality, and consumerism. She is the author of Yellowface: Creating the Chinese in American Popular Music and Performance, 1850s-1920s (2005), and several articles, essays, reviews, and blogs on American immigration history and ethnic identity. Additionally, she has worked as a public historian, collaborating with the Office of Historic Alexandria (OHA) for several years. As part of this partnership, she has written “Finding the Fort: A History of an African American Neighborhood in Northern Virginia, 1860s-1960s” to assist in the inclusion of African American history in Alexandria’s public programming. She was also the lead historical researcher and interviewer for OHA on “Immigrant Alexandria: Past, Present, and Future,” an oral history project funded by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Her current research looks at ways in complicating the public’s understanding of the past, especially through her research on race relations and immigration in the Washington metropolitan region. She is also collaborating with faculty at UNC-Asheville and the University of Havana on a project exploring the impact of the opening of diplomatic relations on food identity and access in Cuba, funded by the Christopher Reynolds Foundation. She serves as the president of the Alexandria Historical Society, and is the past president of the Southeastern Regional Chapter of the American Studies Association.

Recent Publications

“From Arlandria to Chirilagua: The Shifting Demographics of a Northern Virginia Neighborhood,” The Metropole (Official Blog of the Urban History Association), February 11, 2019; https://themetropole.blog/2019/02/11/from-arlandria-to-chirilagua-the-shifting-demographics-of-a-northern-virginia-neighborhood/.

“Asians and Asian Americans and the Performing Arts prior to World War II,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature, October 2018; DOI:10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.916.

“Scottish White Ethnic Revivalism and Usable Pasts in Alexandria, Virginia,” IEHS Blog, October 13, 2018; https://iehs.org/krystyn-moon-scottish-white-alexandria/.

“Immigration Restrictions and International Education: Early Tensions in the Pacific Northwest, 1890s-1910s,” History of Education Quarterly 58, no. 2 (2018): 1-34.

“The Alexandria YWCA, Race, and Urban (and Ethnic) Revival: The Scottish Christmas Walk, 1960s-1970s,” Journal of American Ethnic History 35, no. 4 (Summer 2016): 59-92.

“The African American Housing Crisis in Alexandria, Virginia, 1930s-1960s,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 124, no. 1 (2016): 28-68.

“Making Assessment Work for You,” co-written with Jeffrey McClurken, Journal of American History, 102, no 1. (March 2016): 1123-1131.

“‘On a Temporary Basis’: Immigration and the American Entertainment Industry, 1880s-1930s,” Journal of American History 99 (December 2012): 771-792.

Media Coverage

Social Media

Country Focus

Expertise by Geography

United States

Expertise by Chronology

19th century, 20th century

Expertise by Topic

Food History, Local & Regional, Migration & Immigration, Public History, Race