Mélena “Mae” Laudig is a PhD Candidate in Religion at Princeton University, where she is also pursuing certificates from the Department of African American Studies and the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her dissertation project, “Her Country’s Children”: African American Religion and Childhood in Slavery and Freedom, examines how religious communities, institutions, and cultures shaped the experiences of Black American children during the long nineteenth century. She earned a Master of Arts in Religion from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Yale University.