Northern Illinois University
Department of History
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Current Research

Twentieth-Century U.S. Political and Cultural History, African American History, Sports History, Biography.

Major Publications

Book

• Arthur Ashe: Tennis and Justice in the Civil Rights Era. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. CHOICEOutstanding Academic Title, 2015.

Articles/Book Chapters

• “Foster v. Fourie: Race, Politics, and Betrayal in Apartheid South Africa.” The International Journal of the History of Sport(2020) 
• “Arthur Ashe: Politics, Racism and Tennis.” Lake, Robert, and Carol Osborne, eds. The Routledge Handbook of Tennis: History, Culture and Politics. London: Routledge, 2019.
• “Co-Learners and Core: Education Reform at Saint Joseph’s College.” International Social Science Review88, no. 3 (2014).
• “‘I Guess I’m Becoming More and More Militant’: Arthur Ashe and the Black Freedom Movement, 1961-1968.” Journal of African American History96, no. 4 (Fall 2011): 474-502.

Teaching Interests

My upper-level courses examine the relationship between race, politics and popular culture (particularly sports) in twentieth-century U.S. history. I have taught courses on the Civil Rights Movement and black athletes as well as U.S. history since World War II, popular culture during wartime and historical methods.

Courses Taught

• BKST 200: Racism in American Culture and Society
• HIST 260: American History to 1865
• HIST 261: American History Since 1865
• HIST 359: History of Illinois
• HIST 363: U.S. Sport History
• HIST 391: Topics in History: History of the Black Athlete
• HIST 395: Historical Methods
• HIST 401: Third Clinical Secondary School Experience in History/Social Sciences
• HIST 465: Gilded Age and Progressive Era
• HIST 468: America Since 1960
• HIST 495: Senior Thesis
• HIST 496: History and Social Science Instruction for Secondary and Middle Grades Educators
• ILAS 201: Introductory Clinical Experience

Interdisciplinary Affiliation

Center for Black Studies