Bridget G Hall

Lecturer in African American Diaspora Studies

Bridget G. Hall is a lecturer in the African American and Diaspora Studies Department at Vanderbilt University and the Senior Manager of Ella Baker Leadership at the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). She earned her Ph.D. in Religion with a concentration in Ethics and Society from Vanderbilt University, where she was a fellow in the Theology and Practice Program and a recipient of the Forum for Theological Education Dissertation Fellowship. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Religion from Greensboro College and a Master of Divinity from Emory University.

Bridget’s research explores how Ella J. Baker’s philosophy of change and grassroots leadership can inform contemporary child-centered programs and advocacy initiatives using a genealogical approach. Her work traces the legacy of Baker and the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools within a lineage of 18th- and 19th-century Black women’s activistic efforts to support and uplift children and families through programs, protest, and policy intervention. She argues that an ethics of care grounded in public policy, empathetic listening, communicative action, and self and communal care provides a unifying foundation for child centered programs, movements, and leadership, operationalizing Baker’s vision into transformative practices that enhance the life chances, trajectories, and well-being of children and families.

In her role with the Children’s Defense Fund, Bridget leads a national team of more than thirty Ella Baker Trainers from diverse professional fields, including education, nonprofit leadership, politics, social work, and higher education. Under her direction, the trainers prepare and support CDF Freedom Schools partners nationwide in implementing high-quality, child-centered programming. Her team has also designed and facilitated trainings with partner organizations, including the Learning for Justice Center, Teach for America Black Educators Promise, and others. Each training multiplies the program’s reach and impact, equipping thousands of educators, community leaders, and advocates not only to lead impactful programming, but to foster belonging, joy, and liberation in their classrooms and/or local organizations. In the classroom, Bridget encourages students to think critically and creatively about Black histories and diasporic movements, emphasizing the intersections of culture, ethics, and social change. Her teaching and scholarship bridge theory and practice, emphasizing historical grounding, creative pedagogy, ethical and social inquiry, and intergenerational moral leadership. She engages students in critically analyzing African American and Diasporic histories and freedom traditions, encouraging them to apply key concepts and themes to their professional, civic, and community work. Her research interests include social and philosophical ethics; African American and Diaspora Studies; 19th- and 20th-century Black social and political thought; Black feminist theory; discourse analysis; childhood studies, and historical studies of Black religion, culture, leadership, and advocacy.