Education:

Honors B.A., Magna Cum Laude (History, English, Art History), University of Detroit Mercy, Historic Memorials in Detroit Award, 1984-88.

M.A.  (Museum Studies), Hampton University, Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow, 1988-90.

M.A. and PhD (American Studies), University of Iowa, UI-Stanley Fellow, PASALA Fellow, Andrew W. Mellon Award, 1990-1996.

Certificate of Completion: MBE Executive Management Program. Robins School of Business. University of Richmond, 2018.

 

Specialties:

Research in the humanities, primary and secondary data collection, grantsmanship, historic site interpretation, National Register of Historic Places consulting, workshop facilitation.

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International Professional Highlights:​

• Tenured Associate Professor (retired), Department of Political Science and History, Hampton University.

• Tutor - Advanced Studies in England Program, affiliated with University College, Oxford.​

• Graduate Intern - Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art.

• Guest Author - Invited by The Honorable L. Douglas Wilder to write three chapters in Freedom in My Heart: Voices from the United States Slavery Museum, published by National Geographic Books and nominated for a 2010 NAACP Image Award for best nonfiction literary work of the year.

• Recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities Research Award, the U.N.C.F./Mellon Research Award, the Andrew Mellon Dissertation-Year Award, and the Project for the Advanced Study of Art and Life in Africa (PASALA) Award that facilitated field and archival research in West Africa, including the Republic of Benin, Senegal and Nigeria (southwestern and central).

• Author - The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Making of AfricaTown, U.S.A.: Spirit of Our Ancestors, a non-fiction book that received international acclaim and nomination for a Library of Virginia Literary Award.

• Contributing Author- The first Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage.