Joyce Lebra (December 21, 1925 – October 10, 2021[1]), also known asJoyce Chapman Lebra, was an American historian ofJapan and India.
Lebra spent her childhood inHonolulu and received her B.A. and M.A. in Asian studies from theUniversity of Minnesota. She received a Ph.D. in Japanese history fromHarvard/Radcliffe, and was the first woman Ph.D. in Japanese history in the U.S.
She lived in Japan a total of ten years and three and a half inIndia doing research on the history of Japan and India. She was professor of Japanese history and Indian history at theUniversity of Colorado until her retirement.
She led three research teams to Asia to research women’s roles in the work force, each of which resulted in a book (1977, 1980 and 1984). She has written several other books including works on theIndian National Army and Lakshmibai, theRani of Jhansi, and has written chapters in three books and some fifty articles in scholarly journals.
She has received many awards, including an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Minnesota in 1996, two years on aFulbright fellowship in Japan and one and a half years on Fulbright fellowships in India. Other fellowships include aJapan Foundation fellowship, aNational Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, one from theAmerican Association of University Women, one fromAustralian National University, and others. She is noted inWho’s Who in America,Who’s Who of American Women, andWho’s Who in American Education. She has lectured widely atUniversity of Oxford, theLondon School of Economics,University of Tokyo,Waseda University,Nagoya University,University of Hong Kong, theInstitute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, theNetaji Research Bureau inCalcutta,Melbourne andMonash Universities,Macquarie University,University of Sydney,University of Queensland, andAustralian National University in Canberra. She delivered the Harmon Memorial Lecture at theUnited States Air Force Academy in 1991.
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