Stephanie Camp, 46, historian

A memorial service will be held Saturday, April 19, for Stephanie M.H. Camp, 46, a feminist historian with Philadelphia roots, who died Wednesday, April 2, of cancer at a Seattle hospital.

The service will run from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Baha'i Community of Philadelphia, 2462 Bryn Mawr Ave.

Dr. Camp was an associate history professor at the University of Washington best known for her scholarly work on enslaved women in the antebellum South.

Her book Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South told of the measures female slaves took to resist their owners in the 1800s. The book broke new ground.

She relied on oral history recordings of former slaves made by Works Progress Administration employees during the Depression, and on her own experience as a woman of color, to understand how female slaves might have thought, wrote reporter Katherine Long in the Seattle Times.

Dr. Camp received her bachelor's and doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and her master's degree from Yale University. She received many honors and grants during her career.

At the time of her death, she was working on a book about how black and white Americans have viewed beauty among blacks throughout history.

While growing up in Philadelphia, Dr. Camp attended H.C. Lea Elementary School and graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls. She left the city in 2001 and moved to Seattle. From there, she moved to Rice University in Houston, then back to Seattle.

The Rice University history department, where Dr. Camp worked from 2008 to 2010 as an associate professor, posted a tribute to her on its website.

"Professor Camp was a leading scholar of mid-Atlantic slavery, gender, and the American South," the tribute read. "She was a fantastic colleague, a great intellectual, and wonderful friend."

Dr. Camp was also known for the old house she renovated in Seattle and the tasty food she served at parties.

Surviving are a son, Luc Ade Mariani; her former husband, Marc Mariani; her parents, Donald E. and Marie Josephe Camp; and a sister.

Donations may be made for Luc Mariani c/o Chandan Reddy, 2205 E. Terrace St., Seattle, Wash. 98122. Reddy is an associate professor of English at the University of Washington.