Barbara D. Savage  Barbara Dianne Savage (born 1953) is Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2017, Savage was appointed the Harmsworth Visiting Professor of American History (established 1922) at the University of Oxford. Savaged graduated from the University of Virginia and the Georgetown University Law Center. She holds a Ph.D. in history from Yale University.