I study the changing terrain of racial literacy and action. In particular I explore how black organizations in the 1960s and 1970s wrestled with the emerging contradictions and continuing problems in the post-civil rights era. I interrogate the post-civil rights institutional experiences around racial discourse, activism, and policy by relying on a combination of institutional, intellectual, and social history that lead to a series of research questions: How did activists address changing economic, political, and social dynamics? Why were inter-organizational debates so divisive in the late 1960s and in the 1970s? In what ways were black organizations able or unable to navigate new political terrains?
While historical analysis is my primary methodology, I am trained in the interdisciplinary techniques valued by African American Studies, believing the social sciences and the arts lead to a more comprehensive understanding of the global black experience. Ultimately, my scholarly approach investigates the intersections between broader political languages of inclusion and exclusion about race, class, gender, and sexuality, and how organizations have used, rejected, or transcended these discursive practices when seeking politicized objectives.