My teaching is grounded in the Black radical tradition and inspired by the political education practices of the Black Power era—spaces where learning was collective, critical, and rooted in struggle. I view the classroom as a site of transformation, where students not only study history but are challenged to make meaning of the present and imagine more just futures.
I center collaborative learning, historical inquiry, and intersectional analysis, encouraging students to engage deeply with questions of power, freedom, and resistance. Teaching, for me, is inseparable from the broader work of liberation; it’s a space to cultivate critical thinking, deepen political consciousness, and build community through study.
This course traces the history of carceral state abolition through the thought and activism of Black radicals, imprisoned intellectuals, and grassroots organizers. Beginning with the foundations of abolitionist thought, students examine how policing and incarceration were used to suppress Black freedom movements. The course then turns to contemporary abolitionist writing and organizing, highlighting how the movement critiques broader systems of oppression while imagining new possibilities for collective liberation.
African American History I & II is a two-part survey that explores the experiences, contributions, and resistance of African Americans from the early colonial period to the present. The first half of the course traces the development of racial slavery, the formation of African American communities, and Black resistance from the 17th century through the Civil War. The second half examines the post-emancipation era, focusing on Reconstruction, the rise of Jim Crow, the Great Migration, civil rights and Black Power movements, and ongoing struggles for racial justice in the 21st century. Through primary and secondary sources, students analyze how African Americans have shaped—and been shaped by—the evolving contours of American society, culture, and politics.
This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the social, political, and cultural forces that have shaped the lives of people of African descent in the U.S. and across the globe. From pre-colonial Africa to the Movement for Black Lives, the course centers Black social and political movements while exploring how activists, intellectuals, and organizations have challenged intersecting systems of oppression. Students gain a foundational understanding of Black Studies as a discipline rooted in global Black freedom struggles.
This course examines the origins, growth, and impact of the carceral state in relation to Black life in America. Beginning with slavery and moving through the present, students explore how carceral institutions, laws, and ideologies have shaped Black experiences and undermined Black freedom. The course analyzes the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and criminality while highlighting how Black intellectuals and organizers have critiqued prisons and policing in pursuit of expansive visions of abolition and liberation.
This course traces the history of African American women from pre-colonial Africa to the present, examining how their lives have been shaped by systems of slavery, sexual violence, labor exploitation, and criminalization. It centers Black women’s experiences, political thought, and resistance across time, highlighting their roles as organizers, intellectuals, and cultural producers. Students explore the enduring impact of historical injustice and the ways Black women have continually shaped U.S. history and Black freedom struggles.
This course examines the political thought of Black women in the twentieth century, focusing on their theories of freedom, self-determination, and resistance to interlocking systems of racism, sexism, and capitalism. From early club women to Black feminists active in today’s Movement for Black Lives, students explore how Black women have shaped—and challenged—major political ideologies and movements, including nationalism, socialism, and civil rights. The course highlights the depth and breadth of Black women’s intellectual traditions and their central place in the history of American political thought.