I earned my Ph.D. from Emory University in American/African American Studies in 2009. My dissertation used Venus and Serena Williams as subjects whose representation in popular media, books, videos, and other texts prompted my research questions regarding what their public portrayal might suggest about the intersection of race, gender, and nationalism during late capitalism.

Although I remain deeply interested in sports, my intellectual work now focuses on African American life, culture, and experience in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. To this end, I am currently working on a monograph about the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963.

Note: Though this bio is mosty about my professional history, it should be noted that in the photograph I've watermarked, I am pregnant with my now five-year-old son Miles. His dad, my husband, is standing next to me while I'm slicing cake, but I decided to center my image as the focal point of my own story, which I think is a good and proper place for my insertion regarding an introduction of myself to you.