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Meet the Mellon Fellows: Dr. Shanleigh Corrallo

Dr. Shanleigh Corrallo

University at Buffalo
PhD, History

Host Site: Saratoga National Historical Park
Fellowship Title: Revolutionizing the Narratives at Schuyler’s Estate, Saratoga
Project Description: Dr. Corrallo will study and develop methods of sharing a variety of under-told, silenced, and undiscovered stories at the Schuyler Estate. This historic house and landscape represent many intersectional histories, including those connecting ethnicity, race, gender, and class.

Bio:

Dr. Corrallo is a historian of Black Power with experiences in academia and government. Through her research and publications on BUILD, FIGHT, and Attica, and through her industry experience, she has reaffirmed her commitment to reclaiming and uplifting the powerful histories of Black communities in New York.

After a moving experience teaching American History to refugee students and reentering individuals in Buffalo, Corrallo pursued a career working on criminal legal reform. From 2021-2023, she supported executive leadership in New York State government at the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the Executive Chamber. Her portfolio of work in the criminal legal space has included reentry, domestic terrorism and extremism, clemency, gun violence reduction, and more.

As a first-generation college student, Dr. Corrallo was elated to earn her PhD in History from the University at Buffalo in 2020. She also earned an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies (History and Criminal Justice) from Niagara University in 2014. Corrallo relishes in the simple pleasures of hiking outdoors, spending time with her beloveds, cultivating her vegetable garden, beekeeping, and learning new skills.

Tell us about your research interests!

I am fascinated by Black freedom and liberation movements in United States history. My current research details the histories of two unique Black Power organizations that thrived in the 1960s-1970s: BUILD Buffalo and FIGHT Rochester. BUILD and FIGHT were remarkable because they adopted a firm local approach to their organizing, rather than expanding nationally. They were fierce advocates for the Attica Brothers, developed their own community-owned factories and schools, and promoted a philosophy of Buffalonian and Rochesterian Black Pride. Inextricable from these resistance histories, I also research the development of the carceral state and the impact of the criminal legal system in the United States, particularly in the postwar period.

How does your research connect to the mission of the National Park Service, which serves both parks and communities?

My research, combined with my applied professional experience in criminal legal system policy, is reflective of the mission of the National Park Service to simultaneously serve parks and communities. I have always integrated a community-driven and connected approach to my research, since these rich histories belong to their communities of origin. This is something that I take very seriously and respect. Moreover, the impetus to prioritize and uncover obscured histories of Black, Indigenous, and other oppressed communities is imperative to accurately reflecting our national identity. This fellowship seeks to do just that in a variety of contexts and with a range of communities; this was a major motivating factor for my application. Finally, by actually connecting and communicating with these communities and their descendants, we provide a reciprocal opportunity to include and feature the rightful owners and stewards of these histories, while utilizing our expertise to concretize it for the public.

What are you most excited about as you begin your fellowship?

I am so excited to dig into the archives, archaeological objects, and to learn about daily life at the Schuyler Estate. As a historian of the 20th century, this fellowship is a great opportunity to expand my scope of evidence and analysis and to work on recovering the lives and stories of enslaved individuals who labored at the Schuyler Estate, of whom we know too little about. Moreover, I am excited to work with and learn from the wonderful staff at the Schuyler Estate to develop these histories.