Ashley Dennis

Ashley Dennis

Postdoctoral Fellow, African and African American Studies

Ashley Dennis is broadly interested in Black women’s intellectual history, social and political movements, and the history of Black education. Her work explores how and why Black women teachers, librarians, and children’s book authors promoted the study of Black history and culture among children during the mid-twentieth century. She is particularly interested in Black women’s engagement in debates about book banning, the nature of slavery in the U.S. South, the relationship between Africa and the African Diaspora, and the causes and solutions to racism. Dennis has published in The History of Education Quarterly, Historical Studies in Education, Black Perspectives, and The Washington Post. She also wrote a digital tour for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.