Larry Levine Outstanding M.A. Thesis Award History and Art History

Elizabeth Paynter graduated from George Mason University with a Master of Arts in history in 2025. Her master’s thesis, “Navigating the Waters: The Newman Watermen from the Mid-Eighteenth to Mid-Nineteenth Centuries,” examined African American maritime labor, family, and community along the Potomac River. The research explored the political and social environments in which the strained line between freedom and bondage remained tenuous. Elizabeth previously earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin with a double major in English and archaeological studies. She currently serves as an archaeologist for the Fairfax County Park Authority and intends to continue her work in history and heritage resources to discover and preserve the complex narratives of the past.