CURRICULUM VITAE

BA    Michigan State University, English with High Honors, 1973
PhD    Stanford University, English and American Literature, 1980
 

University of California, Los Angeles
Assistant Professor, 1979-1986; Associate Professor, 1986-2010; Professor, 2010-

 

National Fellowships Fund for Black Americans Grant for Graduate Study, 1973-77

Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities, Stanford Univ., 1977-78

Career Development Awards, UCLA, 1981, 1985

Academic Senate Research Grants, UCLA, 1981-88, 1990-2009

Institute of American Cultures Research Program in Ethnic Studies Grant, UCLA, 1983-84

College of Letters and Sciences "College Institute" Award, UCLA, 1984-85

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study and Research, 1984-85

Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for Minorities, 1988-89

Univ. of Calif. President's Research Fellowship in the Humanities, 1992-93

Fellowship, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford Univ., 1992-93

Fulbright Senior Specialists Grant in U. S. Studies (Literature), Univ. of Warsaw, Poland, October, 2006

EXTRAMURAL INSTITUTIONAL GRANTS

Principal Investigator, “The UCLA Summer Humanities Institute for Students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered through the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, UCLA, 2007-10.

PUBLICATIONS

General Editor, The Library of Black Literature reprint series, Univ. Press of New England (co-founded with Arnold Rampersad and formerly published by Northeastern Univ. Press), 1988-2010.  Winner of the 2002 African American History Award by the Boston Museum of Afro-American History.

Brooks, Joanna and John Saillant, eds.  “Face Zion Forward”: First Writers of the BlackAtlantic,

            1785-1798.

Brown, Frank London.  Trumbull Park.

Brown, Lloyd L.  Iron City.

Brown, Sterling A.  A Son’s Return: Selected Essays.

           Bruce, John Edward.  The Black Sleuth.

           Demby, William.  The Catacombs.

           Du Bois, W. E. B.  The Quest of the Silver Fleece.

           Ellis, Trey.  Platitudes.

           Fauset, Jessie Redmon.  The Chinaberry Tree.

---.  There Is Confusion.

Foster, Frances Smith.  Love and Marriage in Early African America.

Jones, Gayl.  White Rat.

           Lee, Andrea.  Sarah Phillips.

           Major, Clarence.  All-Night Visitors.

           Mayfield, Julian.  The Hit & The Long Night.

           McKay, Claude.  Home to Harlem.

           Murray, Albert.  Train Whistle Guitar.

           Redding, J. Saunders.  Stranger and Alone.

           Ross, Fran.  Oreo.

           Savoy, Willard.  Alien Land.

           Schuyler, George S.  Black Empire.

            ---.  Black No More.

 ---.  Ethiopian Stories.

           Shockley, Ann Allan.  Loving Her.

           Thurman, Wallace.  Infants of the Spring.

           Williams, John A.  Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light.

           Wilson, Ivy, ed.  At the Dusk of Dawn: Selected Poetry and Prose of Albery Allson Whitman.

           Wright, Richard.  Lawd Today!

 ---.  The Long Dream.

Coeditor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Juan Bruce-Novoa, Jackson Bryer, Elaine Hedges, Amy Ling, Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., Wendy Martin, Charles Molesworth, Carla Mulford, Raymund Paredes, Hortense Spillers, Linda Wagner-Martin, and Andrew Wiget.  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1990.

Associate General Editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Juan Bruce-Novoa, Jackson Bryer, Elaine Hedges, Anne Goodwyn Jones, Amy Ling, Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., Wendy Martin, Charles Molesworth, Carla Mulford, Raymund Paredes, Linda Wagner-Martin, and Andrew O. Wiget.  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  2nd ed., rev.  Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994.

Coeditor, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay (General Editors), William L. Andrews, Houston A. Baker, Jr., Barbara T. Christian, Frances Smith Foster, Deborah E. McDowell, Robert G. O'Meally, Arnold Rampersad, and Hortense Spillers.  The Norton Anthology of African American Literature.  New York: W. W. Norton, 1997.

Associate General Editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Juan Bruce-Novoa, Jackson Bryer, Elaine Hedges, Anne Goodwyn Jones, Amy Ling, Wendy Martin, Charles Molesworth, Carla Mulford, Raymund Paredes, Linda Wagner-Martin, and Andrew O. Wiget.  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  3rd ed., rev.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

 

Associate General Editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Jackson Bryer, King-Kok Cheung, Anne Goodwyn Jones, Wendy Martin, Charles Molesworth, Raymund Paredes, Ivy T. Schweitzer, Andrew O. Wiget, and Sandra A Zagarell.  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  4th ed., rev. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Associate General Editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Jackson Bryer, King-Kok Cheung, Wendy Martin, Quentin Miller, Charles Molesworth, Raymund Paredes, Ivy T. Schweitzer, Linda Wagner-Martin, Andrew O. Wiget, and Sandra A. Zagarell.  The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition.  Bostong: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.  

Associate General Editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Jackson R. Bryer, King-Kok Cheung, Anne Goodwyn Jones, Wendy Martin, Quintin Miller, Charles Molesworth, Raymund Paredes, Ivy T. Schweitzer, Andrew O. Wiget, and Sandra A. Zagarell.  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  5th ed., rev.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Coeditor, with Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Gavin Jones, Meta DuEwa Jones, and Arnold Rampersad.  Paul Laurence Dunbar.  Spec. issue of African American Review 41.2 (2007): 200-401.

Associate General Editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), John Alberti, Mary Pat Brady, Jackson R. Bryer, King-Kok Cheung, Kirk Curnutt, Anne Goodwyn Jones, James Kyung-Jin Lee, Wendy Martin, Quentin Miller, Bethany Schneider, Ivy T. Schweitzer, and Sandra A. Zagarell.  The Heath Anthology of American Literature, 6th ed., rev.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. 

Essays & Book Chapters

"John Hawkes' Second Skin."  Mosaic 8.1 (1974): 65-73.

"Afro-American Literature Without Books?"  UCLA Center for Afro-American Studies Newsletter 5.1 (1980): 4-5.

"The Crisis in Afro-American Letters."  College English 43 (1981): 773-778.

"The Quest for the American Dream in Three Afro-American Novels: If He Hollers Let Him Go, The Street, and Invisible Man."  MELUS 8.4 (1981): 33-59.  Reprinted in The Critical Response to Ann Petry.  Ed. Hazel Arnett Ervin.  Westport CT: Praeger, 2005.  53-67.

"'In the Realm of the Imagination': Afro-American Literature and the American Canon."  ADE Bulletin 78 (Summer 1984): 35-39.  Reprinted in The Informed Reader: Contemporary Issues in the Disciplines.  Ed. Charles Bazerman.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989.  65-77.

"Nathan C. Heard."  Afro-American Fiction Writers after 1955.  Vol. 33 of Dictionary of Literary Biography.  Ed. Trudier Harris and Thadious M. Davis.  Detroit: Gale Research, 1984.  110-115.

"Robert Deane Pharr."  Afro-American Fiction Writers after 1955.  Vol. 33 of Dictionary of Literary Biography.  Ed. Trudier Harris and Thadious M. Davis.  Detroit: Gale Research, 1984.  208-214.

"James David Corrothers."  Afro-American Writers before the Harlem Renaissance.  Vol. 50 of Dictionary of Literary Biography.  Ed. Trudier Harris and Thadious M. Davis.  Detroit: Gale Research, 1986.  52-62.

"Strategies of Black Characterization in Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Early Afro-American Novel."  New Essays on Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Ed. Eric J. Sundquist.  New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1986.  45-84.  Reprinted in Literary Influence and African-American Writers.  Ed. Tracy Mishkin.  New York: Garland, 1996.  23-64.

Afterword.  Blood on the Forge.  By William Attaway.  1941.  New York: Monthly Review Press, 1987.  295-315.

Introduction.  Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South.  By Pauline E. Hopkins.  1900.  New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1988.  xxvii-xlviii.

"The First-Person in Afro-American Fiction."  Afro-American Literary Study in the 1990s.  Ed. Houston A. Baker, Jr., and Patricia Redmond.  Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1989.  105-121.

"Race, Violence, and Manhood: The Masculine Ideal in Frederick Douglass's 'The Heroic Slave.'"  Frederick Douglass: New Literary and Historical Essays.  Ed. Eric J. Sundquist.  New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990.  166-188.  Reprinted in Haunted Bodies: Gender and Southern Texts. Ed. Anne Goodwyn Jones and Susan V. Donaldson.  Charlottesville: Univ. Press of Virginia, 1997.  159-184.

"Black Authors, White Readers: Early Afro-American Fiction Writers and the Problem of Audience."  Lire en Amérique [Reading in America].  Ed. John Atherton and Claire Bruyere.  Cahiers Charles V 14.  Paris: Université Paris VII, 1992.  33-46.

Introduction.  Uncle Tom's Children.  By Richard Wright.  1940.  New York: Perennial-Harper Collins, 1993.  ix-xxix.

"Violence, Manhood, and Black Heroism: The Wilmington Riot in Two Turn-of-the-Century African American Novels."  Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and Its Legacy.  Ed. David S. Cecelski and Timothy B. Tyson.  Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1998.  225-251.

Introduction.  Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light.  By John A. Williams.  1969.  Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press, 1999.  vii-xvi.

Introduction.  Understand This.  By Jervey Tervalon. 1994.  Berkeley: Univ. of Calif. Press, 2000.  3-5.

"The Oral Tradition in African American Literature."  Contemporary Approaches to American Culture.  Ed. Nguyen Lien and Jonathan Auerbach.  Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Van Hoa - Thong Tin, 2001.  356-382.

With Dianne Pinderhughes.  “A Changing Political Context: The Pinderhughes, Yarborough Report.”  Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies in the United States.  New York: Ford Foundation, 2007.  159-229.

Preface.  How Their Living Outside America Affected Five African American Authors: Toward a Theory of Expatriate Literature.  By Ewa Luczak.  Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2010.  i-vi.

Miscellaneous

"The American Political Novel."  Reconstructing American Literature: Courses, Syllabi, Issues.  Ed. Paul Lauter.  Old Westbury: Feminist Press, 1983.  160-162.

With A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff, Jerry W. Ward, Jr., Frances Smith Foster, Paul Lauter, and John W. Roberts.  "African American Literature."  Redefining American Literary History.  Ed. Ruoff and Ward.  New York: Modern Language Assoc., 1990.  290-326.

With Elaine Hedges.  "Paul Laurence Dunbar."  Instructor's Guide for The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  Ed. Judith A. Stanford.  Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1990.  315-318.

With Elaine Hedges.  "Paul Laurence Dunbar."  Instructor's Guide for The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  2nd ed., rev. and enl.  Ed. John Alberti.  Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994.  378-381.

"Anna Julia Cooper."  Instructor's Guide for The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  2nd ed., rev. and enl.  Ed. John Alberti.  Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994.  418-422.

"Anna Julia Cooper."  The Heath Anthology of American Literature.  Ed. Paul Lauter, et al.  2nd ed., rev. and enl.  Vol. 2.  Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994.  782-783.

With Charlotte Heth.  "Faculty Development: Interdisciplinary Seminar."  Women of Color and the Multicultural Curriculum: Transforming the Classroom.  Ed. Liza Fiol-Matta and Miram K. Chamberlain.  New York: Feminist Press, 1994.  98-111.

"Pauline Hopkins."  A Companion to American Thought.  Ed. Richard Wightman Fox and James T. Kloppenberg.  Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995.  313-314.

"Ways of Thinking: Contemplating a Context for Understanding Black Male."  Los Angeles Weekly.  April 21-27, 1995.  23, 29.

"Arguing Amistad."  Los Angeles Weekly.  December 19-25, 1997.  39-40.

Reviews

Rev. of In My Father's House, by Ernest J. Gaines.  Black Books Bulletin 6.2 (1979): 46-48.

Rev. of Jim Flying High, by Mari Evans.  UCLA Center for Afro-American Studies Newsletter 4.1 (1979): 7.

Rev. of The Lakestown Rebellion by Kristin Hunter.  First World 2.4 (1980): 40-41.

Rev. of Richard Wright: Ordeal of a Native Son, by Addison Gayle.  Black American Literature Forum 15 (1981): 31-33.

Rev. of The Politics of Literary Expression, by Donald B. Gibson.  MELUS 9.4 (1982): 67-75.

Rev. of George S. Schuyler, by Michael W. Peplow.  Black American Literature Forum 16 (1982): 80-81.

Rev. of Black Novelists and the Southern Literary Tradition, by Ladell Payne.  The Georgia Review 37 (1983): 449-452.

"Breaking the 'Codes of Americanness.'"  Rev. of Beyond Ethnicity: Descent and Consent in American Culture, by Werner Sollors.  American Quarterly 38 (1986): 860-65.

Rev. of Understand This, by Jervey Tervalon.  African American Review 33.2 (1999): 374-76.

 

CONFERENCE AND INVITED PAPERS

"John Hawkes's Second Skin," at a conference entitled The Creative Process in Literature and the Arts, Stanford Univ., November 13, 1973.

"The Fiction of Sutton E. Griggs," the Center for Afro-American Studies Faculty Seminar Series, UCLA, March 13, 1980.

"Criticism for the Eighties and New World Literature," the Modern Language Assoc. convention, Los Angeles, December 29, 1982.

"The Reformation of a Buffoon: The Evolution of James David Corrothers's The Black Cat Club," at "Of Our Spiritual Strivings": Recent Developments in Black Literature and Criticism, a Center for Afro-American Studies conference, UCLA, April 23, 1983.

"Afro-American Literature since the Sixties," at a conference entitled New Vistas for Black Arts: Perpetuating Black Expressive Forms in the '80s, the Univ. of Calif., Irvine, May 19, 1983.

"The Fiction of Pauline E. Hopkins," the Philological Assoc. of the Pacific Coast convention, Santa Barbara CA, November 12, 1983.

"The Image of the Black in American Culture," the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey CA, April 9, 1984; and Mills College, Oakland CA, May 8, 1984.

"Violence and Black Heroism: The Wilmington Riot in Two Turn-of-the-Century Afro-American Novels--The Marrow of Tradition by Charles W. Chesnutt and Hanover by David B. Fulton," at the Modern Language Assoc. convention, Washington DC, December 28, 1984; at Stanford Univ., May 21, 1985; and at The 1898 Wilmington Racial Violence and its Legacy, a symposium held in Wilmington NC, October 24, 1998.

"Afro-American Literature and the American Canon," the Calif. Literature Project Conference, UCLA, June 26, 1985.

"Race, Class, and Militancy in the Post-Reconstruction Afro-American Novel," the American Studies Assoc. convention, San Diego, November 1, 1985.

"Reclaiming the Self: Black Women's Fiction from Slavery to the Harlem Renaissance," at Creating Women: Literary Contexts and Texts, a conference held at UCLA, March 8, 1986; and the Calif. Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, May 10, 1986.

"Afro-American Literature: Its Development and Current State," at a conference held in conjunction with the exhibition It Was Against the Law: The Afro-American Literary Tradition, the Calif. Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, August 10, 1986.

"'What Happens to a Dream Deferred?': Black Writers and the American Dream," at a conference entitled America as a Pluralistic Society, Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, October 8, 1986.

"The Novel," at The Study of Afro-American Literature: An Agenda for the 1990s, a conference convened at the Univ. of Penn., April 10, 1987.

"Black American Literature, Yesterday and Today," the International Black Writers and Artists Conference, Los Angeles Southwest College, July 25, 1987.

"Gender, Militancy, and Heroism in Turn-of-the-Century Afro-America," the Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, November 5, 1987; and Princeton Univ., February 25, 1988.

"The Treatment of Minority Issues in the American Quarterly," the American Studies Assoc. convention, New York, November 22, 1987.

"Incorporating the New Scholarship into the Curriculum: Race and Literature," the American Studies Assoc. convention, Miami Beach, October 30, 1988.

"'At the Closed Gates of Justice': The Protest Poetry of James D. Corrothers," the Modern Language Assoc. convention, New Orleans, December 28, 1988; and the Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, April 19, 1989.

"'Not a Man, and Yet a Man': The Heroic Masculine Ideal in Nineteenth-Century Afro-American Fiction," at emBODIED & enGENDERED: A Conference to Vision and Revision Sexuality, Gender, and Selfhood in Africa and its Diaspora, the Claremont Colleges, March 31, 1989; the Univ. of Calif., San Diego, May 17, 1989; and UCLA, May 18, 1989.

"Experiments with the Black Voice in the Fiction of Charles W. Chesnutt and James Weldon Johnson," Univ. of Mass., Boston, September 29, 1989.

"Race, Gender, and Violence: Frederick Douglass's 'The Heroic Slave,'" Smith College, Northampton MA, October 3, 1989.

"Race, Culture, and Liberation: The Role of Africa in Martin R. Delany's Blake," at "Looking Back with Pleasure": A Bicentennial Commemoration of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, the Univ. of Utah, October 28, 1989.

"Teaching a Reconstructed American Literature," the American Studies Assoc. convention, Toronto, November 4, 1989.

"Black Students in English Graduate Programs," the Modern Language Assoc. convention, Washington DC, December 30, 1989.

"Negotiating the Black Voice," Occidental College, Los Angeles, May 15, 1990.

"Afro-American Fiction and the Battle over the Black Image," as part of In Praise of Excellence: The 1989-1990 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series, UCLA, June 4, 1990.

"The Construction of Black Sexuality in Early Afro-American Fiction," the Modern Language Assoc. convention, Chicago, December 30, 1990; at a conference entitled Aesthetics, Politics and African American Culture, Harvard Univ., May 11, 1991; at the European Assoc. for American Studies conference, Seville, Spain, April 6, 1992; at Stanford Univ., April 8, 1994.

"The Histories of American Literatures: Multiculturalism and Afro-American Literature," at a conference entitled What Is the History of Literature?, the Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, March 2, 1991.

"Opening the Doors or Circling the Wagons: Ethnic/American Studies in the 1990s," keynote address at the Pacific Northwest American Studies Assoc. Meeting, Coeur d'Alene ID, April 12, 1991.

"A Theoretical and Institutional Consideration of the Relationship between Afro-American Studies and American Studies," the American Studies Assoc. convention, Baltimore, November 2, 1991.

"Black Authors, White Readers: Early Afro-American Fiction Writers and the Problem of Audience," at a conference entitled Lire en Amérique/Reading in America, Université Paris VII, Paris, France, December 14, 1991.

"Race, Multiculturalism, and Political Correctness," an invited paper delivered as part of a session entitled "Criticism and Diversity," the Modern Language Assoc. convention, San Francisco, December 28, 1991; at St. Olaf College, Northfield MN, March 12, 1992; at the Univ. of Calif. Humanities Research Institute, Irvine, September 29, 1993; and at Macalester College, St. Paul MN, February 22, 1994.

"Blackness and the Dilemma of American Racial Identity," presented at a faculty seminar entitled Identity in America from a Multicultural Perspective, Centro de Estudios Sobre Los Estados Unidos, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, June 12, 1992.

"Race--The Final Frontier: The Depiction of Blackness in Contemporary Science-Fiction Film and Television," the American Studies Assoc. convention, Irvine CA, November 6, 1992.

"'Can We Get Along?': Race, Racism, and the Institutional Challenge of Multiculturalism," delivered at a conference entitled The Status of Multicultural Literatures in the Profession: A Retrospective and Prospective, Univ. of Michigan, November 19, 1992.

"'Distorting Mirrors': Afro-American Writers and the Cultural Construction of Blackness in the United States," sponsored by the Humanities Institute, Scripps College, Claremont, March 25, 1993.

"The Image of the Black in Nineteenth-Century American Culture," the Japanese Assoc. for American Studies Conference, Kyoto, Japan, April 4, 1993.

"Multiculturalism: An Afro-American Perspective," the Japan Institute of International Relations, Tokyo, April 6, 1993; and at Hitotsubashi Univ., Tokyo, April 7, 1993.

"Black Studies, Literary Histories, and Institutional Change," ADE Western Summer Seminar, Las Vegas, June 25, 1993.

"The Difference that Blacks Make in Post-Civil-Rights Era Science-Fiction Film and Television," at the English Institute, Harvard Univ., September 4, 1994; and the Univ. of Maryland, April 21, 1995.

"The Dilemma of Black Militancy in Early Afro-American Fiction," the 9th Bebe Koch Petrou Lecture, the Univ. of Maryland, April 20, 1995.

"Mentoring Black Women for Today's Job Market," invited by the MLA Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession, the Modern Language Assoc. convention, Chicago, December 30, 1995. 

"Mysteries in Black: African American Detective Fiction," at the First International Symposium on Contemporary Literature of the African Diaspora, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain, March 22, 1996.

Conference Summary, "Black Mystery Writers Symposium," sponsored by the Univ. of Minnesota and Bouchercon 27, St. Paul MN, October 10, 1996. 

"The Rise of Black Detective Fiction," the American Studies Assoc. convention, Kansas City, November 3, 1996; at Pepperdine Univ., October 16, 1997; and at the Univ. of Warsaw, October 19, 2006.

"'Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!' or 'Black Radio Won't Play this Album,'" presented at disChord: A Conference on Contemporary Popular Music, UCLA, May 10, 1997.

"Tananarive Due's The Between," at a conference entitled "The Endlessly Beckoning Horizon": Afro-American Literature at the End of the Twentieth Century, Univ. of Penn., September 30, 1999.

"The Oral Tradition in African American Literature," at American Studies Today, a conference convened at Vietnam National Univ., Hanoi, October 12, 1999.

"'Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!': The Ongoing Marginalization of Black Rock," at the American Studies Assoc. convention, Montreal, October 29, 1999.

"Are We Winning the Canon Battle But Losing the War?", an invited paper delivered as part of a session entitled "The World, the Market, and the Americanist," the Modern Language Assoc. convention, Chicago, December 28, 1999.

"African American Studies from a Comparative Perspective: Some Lessons Learned from a Team-Taught Course on African Americans and Asian Americans," an invited paper delivered as part of a session on "Ethnic Literatures in the Twenty-First Century," the Modern Language Assoc. convention, Washington DC, December 28, 2000.

"The Construction of Blackness in Post-60s U. S. Science Fiction Film," Calif. Institute of Technology, Pasadena, February 13, 2001; and at Stanford Univ., May 10, 2004.

"Figuring the History of American Racism: The Problem of Black Violence in Recent U. S. Cinema," at a conference entitled Crossroutes: The Meanings of "Race" for the 21st Century, sponsored by the Collegium for African American Research, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, March 23, 2001.

"Racial Oppression and the Dilemma of Black Violence in Recent US Historical Cinema," part of a lecture series entitled Representations: Race/Technology/Culture, Pomona College, Claremont, April 12, 2001; at the Dept. of African American Studies, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, May 3, 2001; at "Masculinities: A Workshop," Univ. of Calif., Davis, May 18, 2001; and at the Univ. of Texas, May 1, 2003.

"The Black Family and the Assault of White Racism in African American Fiction," at a conference entitled Family in Africa and the African Diaspora, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain, April 10, 2002.

“The Problem of Violence and Black Masculinity in Recent U. S. Historical Cinema,” at the First International African Film and History Conference, the Univ. of Cape Town, South Africa, July 6, 2002; and at Towns & Gowns: Thinking Communities in African American Studies, a conference at the Univ. of Maryland, November 7, 2003; and at the Univ. of Oregon, February 25, 2004.

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin: From Book to Film,” at Topsy-Turvy: Uncle Tom’s Cabin Turns 150, a conference convened at the Huntington Library, San Marino CA, October 5, 2002; at Washington Univ., February 10, 2003; at Vassar College, October 28, 2003; and at the Univ. of South Florida, November 22, 2005.

“From ‘The Weary Blues’ to Poetry Slams: Langston Hughes and African American Vernacular Literature,” at Los Angeles City College, April 23, 2003.

“Race, Crime, and Justice in Los Angeles: Black Detective Fiction after Rodney King,” at the American Literature Assoc. conference, Cambridge MA, May 23, 2003.

“The Tragic Achievement of Charles W. Chesnutt’s The Colonel’s Dream,” at the American Literature Assoc. conference, Boston, May 27, 2005.

“Multiculturalism in the Academy: Hard-Won Victories, Ongoing Struggles, and New Challenges,” at the Secondary Education Luncheon, the American Studies Assoc. convention, Washington DC, November 4, 2005; and at the Univ. of Warsaw, October 17, 2006.

“African American Literature and the Anti-Slavery Movement,” at the Univ. of Warsaw, October 17, 2006.

“Recent Developments in African American Fiction,” at the Univ. of Warsaw, October 18, 2006.

“From Protest to Pulp / From Minority to Multiplicity: The Evolution of Contemporary African American Fiction,” at the Univ. of Gdansk, October 20, 2006; at the Warsaw School of Social Psychology, October 23, 2006; at Maria Curie-Sklodowska Univ., Lublin, Poland, October 24, 2006; and at Ideology and Rhetoric: Constructing America, the 2006 Annual Conference of the Polish Assoc. for American Studies, Warsaw, Poland, October 27, 2006.

“Pauline Hopkins and the Problematics of Literary Canonization,” at the American Literature Association conference, San Francisco, May 29, 2010.

CREATIVE WORK & MEDIA PROJECTS

Theater

Dramaturg, House Arrest, a play by Anna Deavere Smith, in workshop at the Mark Taper Forum, 1998; and at the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, Harvard Univ., 1998.

Film, Television, Radio

Guest Commentator, "The Harlem Renaissance," On Campus, NBC-TV, broadcast December 12, 1982; February 20, 1983.

Guest Commentator, a segment of 2 for L.A. on black literature and journalism, CBS-TV, broadcast May 11, 1983.

Guest Commentator, a segment of Weekend Gallery on the current state of Black Studies, KTLA-TV, broadcast February 6, 1988.

Advisory Board, "Imagining America: Literature of the United States," a video project developed by KCET-TV, Los Angeles, 1988-89.

Scholarly Advisor, The Josephine Baker Story, a film produced by Home Box Office, 1989-90.

Scholarly Advisor and Featured Commentator, Ernest J. Gaines: Louisiana Stories, a film documentary produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting, 1990-93.

Advisory Board, "American Masters: The American Novel," a video series developed by KNET-TV (New York), 1997-2001.

Scholarly Advisor and Featured Commentator, "Walter Mosley," an episode of The West Bank Show, produced by London Weekend Television, 1998.

Featured Commentator, "Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin," an episode of What's the Word?, a radio program produced by the Modern Language Assoc., 1998.

Featured Commentator, "American Passages: A Literary Survey," a radio program produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting, 2001.

Advisory Committee, Race with History, a public radio documentary series produced by Listening Between the Lines, 2001-2004.

Featured Commentator, "Novel Reflections of the American Dream,” produced by WNET-TV (New York) and broadcast as part of the American Masters television series, PBS, 2007.

OTHER PRESENTATIONS

Keynote Address, Black Student Alliance Orientation Program, UCLA, October 12, 1982.

"Major Trends in Afro-American Fiction," the Center for Afro-American Studies, UCLA, November 30, 1983.

"The Humanities: What Are They?  Why Bother?", the Univ. Council for Advanced Studies Colloquium, UCLA, March 23, 1985.

"The Black Immigrant Experience in Literature," two lectures in the UCLA Humanities Project, July 15 and 17, 1985.

"The Significance and Meaning of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man," the Calif. Literature Institute, UCLA, July 22, 1985.

"The Harlem Renaissance," delivered to the Plato Society of UCLA, February 11, 1988; as part of a lecture series sponsored by the Library Committee on Diversity, UCLA, February 14, 1991; and to the Friends of English, UCLA, June 3, 1991.

"The Politics of Literature and the Afro-American Writer," the Paul Robeson Community Center, Los Angeles, February 21, 1988.

Guest Speaker, 9^th Annual “Living Legends” Program (honoring Gloria Naylor), the A. C. Bilbrew Library, Los Angeles, February 28, 1988.

"The Post-Admission Process: The Recruitment of Minority Graduate Students," a conference on the recruitment and retention of minority graduate students, UCLA, November 9, 1988.

"Teaching Afro-American Writing," as part of the Thinking/Writing Project, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, July 13, 1990; as part of the Canton City Schools Fall Inservice Day Program, Canton OH, October 12, 1990; and at Pasadena City College, January 16, 1992.

"From Boy to Man: Issues of Manhood in African-American Literature" and "Transforming the Curriculum," the Summer Humanities Institute, UCLA, July 26 and August 1, 1990.

Participant, "Curricular and Pedagogical Change," part of the Multicultural Community Workshops series, Occidental College, Los Angeles, September 14, 1990.

"Afro-American Literature: Implications for the Classroom," presented to teachers in the Canton City School System and to members of the Leila Green Alliance of Black Educators, Canton OH, October 13, 1990.

Participant, "Progress and Challenge: Race and Racism in America," a panel discussion held in conjunction with a new stage adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, produced by the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and the San Francisco Mime Troupe, San Francisco, October 28, 1990.

"Imagination and Reality: African-Americans and their Stories," Santa Monica College, November 8, 1990.

Moderator and co-organizer, "Black Male Writers: The Challenge of the 1990s," a panel discussion with John A. Williams, Al Young, Larry Duplechan, and Steve Corbin, the Calif. Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, November 11, 1990.

Participant, "Curriculum Infusion and Pedagogy for the Diverse Student," a teacher-training workshop at Rio Hondo Community College, Whittier CA, January 18, 1991.

Participant, "Curriculum Transformation: Enhancing the Linkages," a session at a staff development program entitled Celebrating Differences, Santa Monica College, April 9, 1991.

"Multicultural Education," a presentation delivered at a faculty and staff development workshop entitled Changes in the Classroom, Cerritos Community College, Norwalk CA, May 23, 1991; at Cerritos Community College, Norwalk CA, November 14, 1991; and at St. Olaf College, Northfield MN, March 13, 1992.

"Multiculturalism and Political Correctness," presented as part of the Calif. Literature Project, sponsored by the Center for Academic Interinstitutional Programs, UCLA, July 16, 1991.

Invited Conference Respondent, Mark Twain: Issues of Race and Prejudice, a symposium sponsored by the Mark Twain Memorial, Hartford CT, October 12-13, 1991.

Invited Respondent, "William Wells Brown: Slavery and the Question of Genre," a session at the Modern Language Assoc. convention, San Francisco, December 28, 1991.

Moderator and co-organizer, "Black Conservatism: Yesterday and Today," a panel discussion with Cedric J. Robinson, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Sterling Stuckey, Robert Hill, Kimberle Crenshaw, Charles Lawrence, and Earl Ofari Hutchinson, the Calif. Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, January 25, 1992.

Participant, "Multiculturalism: A Conversation," UCLA, February 6, 1992.

"Cultural Challenges and Curricular Change," Humanitas Summer Academy, Univ. of Southern Calif., August 14, 1992.

Panelist, "The American Dream," Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, August 15, 1992.

Participant, a roundtable discussion entitled "In the Wake of the Rodney King/LAPD Verdict," the American Studies Assoc. convention, Irvine, November 7, 1992.

"Voices of the 'Other': African Americans," delivered as part of a special core humanities course entitled 1492: Visions and Voices of America, Univ. of Colorado, Colorado Springs, November 23, 1992.

Panelist, "Changing Curricula," West Los Angeles College, Culver City CA, January 12, 1994.

Invited Respondent, "Searching Paradigms: Nineteenth Century Gender and Protest in the United States," a session at a conference on Black Women at the Nexus of Race and Gender, convened by the Intercollegiate Dept. of Black Studies, Claremont Colleges, January 28, 1994.

"Teaching the Oral Tradition in African-American Literature," delivered as part of A Meeting with Scholars: A Conference on Multiethnic Literature, convened by the Center for Academic Interinstitutional Programs, UCLA, May 7, 1994.

"Issues in African-American Literature," sponsored by the Institute on American Literature and Culture, UCLA, July 19, 1994 and July 18, 1995.

Panelist, "The Next (Lost?) Generation--Pursuing and Marketing an Interdisciplinary Degree in a Disciplinary Academic World," the American Studies Assoc. convention, Nashville, October 29, 1994.

"Major Issues in Afro-American Studies," part of a faculty development series entitled Through American Eyes, Santa Monica College, November 3, 1994.

"The Enduring Legacy of Ralph Ellison," delivered to the Plato Society of UCLA, January 12, 1995.

Invited Respondent, "Zora Neale Hurston and the Black Aesthetic," a session at the 6th Annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, Eatonville FL, January 27, 1995. 

Participant, "The American Identity: A Town Hall Meeting about Identity, Ethnicity, Culture, and Class in the Campus Environment," sponsored by the Daily Bruin, UCLA, February 1, 1995.

Closing speaker for a three-day series of lectures and concerts held in conjunction with The Musical Renaissance of Black Los Angeles, 1890-1955, an exhibition at the Calif. Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, February 19, 1995.

"Intersections between Black American and 'Mainstream' American Literature," part of Text to Text: Developing a Multi-Ethnic Canon, a conference sponsored by the Calif. Literature Project and the Chancellor's Office for Academic Development, UCLA, April 8, 1995.

Participant, "A Forum on Affirmative Action," sponsored by the Graduate Students Assoc., UCLA, April 12, 1995.

Panelist, "The State of the Discipline in English Studies," Univ. of Maryland, April 21, 1995.

Panelist, "A Conversation on Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art," UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, April 29, 1995. 

Panelist, "Other Voices, the State of Multicultural Writing," College of Creative Studies, Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara, November 2, 1995.

"The Oral Tradition in African American Literature," Saddleback College, Mission Viejo CA, February 14, 1996 and February 17, 1999.

"Teaching Black American Poetry," at Literature for a New Millennium: Engaging Readers, Engaging Texts, a conference sponsored by the Calif. Literature Project and the Chancellor's Office for Academic Development, UCLA, April 20, 1996.

Panelist, Humanities Faculty Roundtable, sponsored by the Graduate Mentor Program, UCLA, February 20. 1997.

Panelist, "Ebonics, Literacy, and the Responsibility of the Artist," Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles, March 22, 1997.

Panelist, "Making the Norton Anthology," at Canonizing African-American Literature: Black Anthologies in America, a conference held at the Univ. of Wisconsin, April 5, 1997.

Panelist, "Mentoring in American Studies," a workshop at the American Studies Assoc. convention, Washington DC, November 2, 1997.

"Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man," a book discussion convened by the Undergraduate English Assoc., UCLA, January 28, 1998.

Panelist, "Contemporary Views on the Life of Harriet Tubman," held in conjunction with the production of Harriet's Return, Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles, February 9, 1998.

"The Power of Race: Confronting Conflict in the Classroom," at Teach the Conflicts: Controversies in the Teaching of Literature, a conference sponsored by the Calif. Reading and Literature Project and the Chancellor's Office for Academic Development, UCLA, April 18, 1998.

Invited Conference Respondent, Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance, a symposium sponsored by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, September 12-13, 1998.

Panelist, "The Future of Ethnic Studies," Calif. State Univ., Los Angeles, May 13, 1999.

Panelist, "Surviving and Thriving in Graduate and Professional Studies," a roundtable at Achieving Graduate Student Diversity, a conference sponsored by the Graduate Division, UCLA, November 12, 1999.

Panelist, "Men Against Sexism," Spelman College, Atlanta, November 15, 1999.

Invited Conference Respondent, Diversity and the Curriculum, Univ. of Calif., Santa Cruz, April 14, 2000.

"Teaching Popular Literature: The Case for African American Detective Fiction," at With Rigor for All: Language Arts Standards and Effective Practices, a conference sponsored by the Calif. Reading and Literature Project and the Chancellor's Office for Academic Development, UCLA, April 15, 2000.

Panelist, "American Studies in Vietnam," a roundtable at the American Studies Assoc. convention, Detroit, October 14, 2000.

Invited Respondent, "Interracial Sex, Racial Identity, and Citizenship in the Antebellum United States," a session at the American Studies Assoc. convention, Detroit, October 15, 2000.

Participant, "Authentication or Appropriation: Anthologizing the African American Literary Tradition," a roundtable at Looking Back with Pleasure II: A Celebration, a conference held at the Univ. of Utah, October 26, 2000.

Participant, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," a film screening and panel discussion, Calif. Institute of Technology, Pasadena, February 13, 2001. 

Participant, "Strategic Planning Workshop on African Diaspora Studies," convened by the Dept. of African American Studies, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, April 6, 2001.

Panelist, "Focus on Reconfiguring American Studies: The Place of Ethnic Studies, Women’s Studies, and Gay and Lesbian Studies,” a workshop at the American Studies Assoc. convention, Washington DC, November 8, 2001.

Guest Speaker, 23^rd Annual Living Legends Program (honoring Walter Mosley), the A. C. Bilbrew Library, Los Angeles, February 23, 2002.

Participant, Advancing African American Studies, a workshop sponsored by the Humanities Research Institute, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, April 25-26, 2002.

“Teaching the New Negro (or Harlem) Renaissance,” at Reading Matters, a conference sponsored by the Calif. Reading and Literature Project, Center X, and the Chancellor's Office for Academic Development, UCLA, May 4, 2002.

Invited Conference Respondent, First International African Film and History Conference, the Univ. of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, July 6-8, 2002.

Guest Speaker, Honors 101A Research Seminar, Academic Advancement Program, UCLA, August 28, 2002.

Participant, “Academic Job Interviews in American Studies: A Demonstration Workshop,” at the American Studies Assoc. convention, Houston, November 15, 2002.

Participant, Blues for Thought, a panel discussion sponsored by PEN USA and the World Stage, Los Angeles, December 8, 2002.

Participant, “’Post-Bellum—Pre-Harlem’: Rethinking African American Literature and Culture, 1880-1914,” a workshop at the Modern Language Assoc. convention, New York, December 28, 2002.

Invited Respondent, "Du Bois in a Multicultural Matrix,” a session at a centennial symposium on W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk, convened by the Dept. of Afro-American Studies, Univ. of Wisconsin, April 11, 2003.

Guest speaker, Chapters in Intellectual Autobiography, a seminar series organized by the Dept. of American Studies, the Univ. of Texas, May 1, 2003.

“The Weapon of Black Laughter: Satire in African American Cinema,” at the Calif. Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, September 20, 2003.

Moderator, “Up Against My Brown Skin: Reflections from African American Novelists,” the West Hollywood Book Fair, West Hollywood CA, September 21, 2003.

Participant, “Academic Job Interviews in American Studies: A Demonstration Workshop,” at the American Studies Assoc. convention, Hartford CT, October 17, 2003.

Invited Respondent, Race, Ethnicity, and Civic Identity in the Americas, a symposium convened by the Depts. of English, Hispanic Studies, and History at the Univ. of Kentucky, March 26, 2004. 

Panelist, "Michael Reconsidered: A Critical Look at the Phenomenon of Michael Jackson,” Calif. State Univ., Los Angeles, May 19, 2004.

Panelist, Theorizing Methodologies, a graduate student symposium, English Dept., UCLA, May 21, 2004.

Participant, “Re-envisioning the Life and Legacy of Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Roundtable,” at the American Literature Assoc. conference, San Francisco, May 29, 2004.

Guest lecture on If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes, part of a reading and discussion series entitled “Long Gone: The Literature and Culture of African American Migration,” sponsored by the Memorial Branch Library, Los Angeles, October 16, 2004.

Participant, Mentoring Session, Southern Calif. Ford Fellows Conference, UCLA, October 30, 2004.

Participant, “Academic Job Interviews in American Studies: A Demonstration Workshop,” at the American Studies Assoc. convention, Atlanta, November 12, 2004.

Participant, “Re-Visioning the Harlem Renaissance: A Panel Discussion,” English Dept., UCLA, November 18, 2004.

Respondent, the Anthenaeum, a faculty-graduate student working-papers series, English Dept., UCLA, May 10, 2005.

Participant, Faculty Roundtable, Academic Advancement Program, UCLA, May 17, 2005.

Participant, Dissertation (Humanities) workshop, the Conference of Ford Fellows, Washington DC, September 30, 2005.

Moderator and Participant, “Shades of Color: Embracing and Transcending Identity in Fiction,” the West Hollywood Book Fair, West Hollywood CA, October 2, 2005.

“African American Literature and the Abolition Movement,” a guest lecture delivered in conjunction with the exhibition entitled Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation, the Oxnard Public Library, Oxnard CA, September 23, 2006.

Guest lecture on Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself by Frederick Douglass, the Dept. of English, Univ. of Colorado, Colorado Springs, September 28, 2006.

Faculty Presenter, Afrikan Student Union Admit Weekend, UCLA, April 13, 2007.

Participant, faculty roundtable on curriculum development, Dept. of English, Univ. of Aarhus, Denmark, September 5, 2007.

Participant, “The Institutional Life of African American Studies,” a panel at the Modern Language Assoc. convention, Chicago, December 27, 2007.

Panelist, Humanities Workshop, 2008 Southern Calif. Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, April 5, 2008.

Faculty Presenter, Afrikan Student Union Admit Weekend, UCLA, April 11, 2008.

"Novel Reflections on the American Dream: Ann Petry’s The Street,” a lecture delivered to the Friends of English, UCLA, May 16, 2008.

Participant, Postdoctoral (Humanities) workshop, at the Conference of Ford Fellows, Washington DC, September 20, 2008.

Guest lecture on Native Son by Richard Wright, Bixby Knolls Literary Society, Long Beach CA, October 14, 2008.

Respondent, the Athenaeum, a faculty-graduate student working-papers series, English Dept., UCLA, October 27, 2008.

Moderator, “Criticism and History,” a session at a conference entitled 100 Years of Richard Wright, the Univ. of Utah, April 3, 2009.

Participant, Faculty Panel on Part One Doctoral Examinations, sponsored by the English Graduate Union, UCLA, November 3, 2009.

Panelist, "Combating Inequalities in Higher Education: An Agenda for Tough Times,” a roundtable at the American Studies Assoc. convention, Washington, DC, November 6, 2009.

“The Problem with ‘Post-Black’: Racial Representation in 21^st-Century America,” a lecture delivered at the Calif. African American Museum, Los Angeles, December 13, 2009.

Panelist, “Adjustments and Revisions,” 40^th Anniversary Bunche Center Retrospective, UCLA, January 21, 2010.

Participant, “Making a Difference: A Roundtable on the Future of Leadership in the Profession” (Organized by the Modern Language Association), the College Language Assoc. convention, Brooklyn, NY, April 10, 2010.

Participant, "The Controversy over Precious: Stereotype or Reality?”, a panel organized by the Friends of English, UCLA, May 4, 2010.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

Humanities Consultant, BEEM Foundation for the Advancement of Music, 1980-2002

Advisory Board, Black Periodical Literature Project, directed by Professors Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Phillip Harper, and Anthony Appiah, 1982-2001

Advisory Board, the Project on the History of Black Writing (formerly the Afro-American Novel Project), directed by Professor Maryemma Graham, 1984-2010

Provisional Steering Committee, Teachers for a Democratic Culture, 1991-99

Instructor, "La Identidad Estadounidense/Identity in America," a team-taught graduate course sponsored by the Centro de Investigaciones sobre Estados Unidos de America, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, June 8-11, 1992

Board of Supervisors, the English Institute, 1992-95

Calif. Council for the Humanities, 1992-96 (Chair, Program Committee, 1994-95; Vice-Chair, 1995-96)

Advisory Group, "Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California," a project sponsored by the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, 2000-01

Consultative Committee, African American Research Library, directed by Professors Maria Diedrich, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Christopher Mulvey, 2000-2007

Institutional Reviews 

Consultant, African American Studies Review, the Ford Foundation, 1998-2001

External Reviewer (African American Studies Program), School of Humanities, Univ. of Calif., Irvine, 2004

Chair, External Review Committee (Intercollegiate Dept. of Black Studies), the Claremont Colleges, 2008

Fellowships & Grants

Project Evaluator, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1985-98

Review Panel, Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships for Minorities Program, 1989

Review Panels (Media, National Conversation), National Endowment for the Humanities, 1994-95

Review Panel, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowships for Minorities Program, 1996-98

Review Panel, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Scholars-in-Residence Program, 1997-98

Nominating Committee, Artist Fellowship Program, Durfee Foundation, 2000

Review Panel, Ford Foundation Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowships for Minorities Program, 2002-03

Review Panel, Ford Foundation Predoctoral, Dissertation, and Postdoctoral Fellowships for Minorities Program, 2004

Review Panel (Literature, Chair), Ford Foundation Diversity Predoctoral Fellowships Program, 2005-07

Consultant, Special Interest Grants, Oak Foundation, 2007

Review Panel (Literature, Chair), Ford Foundation Dissertation and Postdoctoral Diversity Fellowships Program, 2008

American Studies Association

Program Committee, 1984-85

Task Force on Minority Studies, 1985-89

National Council, 1988-91 (Executive Committee, 1990-91)

Minority Scholars Committee, 1990-92 (Chair, 1990-92)

Nominating Committee, 1992-95 (Chair, 1994)

Crossroads Project Advisory Board, 1998-2004

Modern Language Association

Presiding Officer, Afro-American Literature section, the Philological Assoc. of the Pacific Coast, 1984

Committee on the Literatures and Languages of America, 1985-88 (Chair, 1987-88)

Executive Committee, Division on Black American Literature and Culture, 1987-92 (Chair, 1989-90)

Executive Committee, Division on Late-Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century American Literature, 1993-98 (Secretary, 1995; Chair, 1996)

Conferences Organized

Chair, Organizing Committee, "Of Our Spiritual Strivings": Recent Developments in Black Literature and Criticism, Center for Afro-American Studies, UCLA, 1982-83

Planning Committee, Ford Foundation Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellows Conference, Irvine CA, 1990

Planning Committee, Multiple Tongues: Centering Discourse by People of Color, Univ. of Calif. Humanities Research Institute and UCLA, 1991-92

Paul Laurence Dunbar Centennial Conference Organizing Committee, Stanford Univ., 2005-06

Editorial

Board of Editorial Advisors, American Quarterly, 1987-91

Editorial Board, Voices of Resistance reprint series, Monthly Review Press, 1987-2001

Advisory Editor, Obsidian II: Black Literature in Review, 1989-2001

Editorial Board, African American Review, 1989-2001

Advisory Board, Companion to African-American Literature, Oxford Univ. Press, 1990-97

Advisory Editor, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture: A Multi-Media Archive, directed by Stephen Railton, Dept. of English, Univ. of Virginia (www.iath.virginia.edu/utc), 1998-2010

Advisory Editor, African American Writers, 2nd ed. (Valerie Smith, ed. [New York: Scribner's, 2001])

Advisory Board, Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture, 2001-2008

Advisory Editor, Obsidian III: Literature in the African Diaspora, 2002-03

Manuscript Evaluation

PMLA, African American Review, American Quarterly, MELUS, Obsidian II, Western Folklore, Modern Language Studies, Univ. of Calif. Press, Univ. of Chicago Press, Howard Univ. Press, Univ. of Georgia Press, Univ. of Virginia Press, Bedford Publishers, Univ. of Tennessee Press, Indiana Univ. Press, Rutgers Univ. Press, Univ. of Alabama Press, Univ. of North Carolina Press, Wiley-Blackwell

Educational Consulting

Literature and Composition Consultant, Compton Community College Textbook Review Project, 198

Consultant, Calif. Achievement Test Bias Review, CTB/McGraw-Hill, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1993

The National Faculty, 1993-2001

Consultant, Multicultural Institute, Campbell Union School District, Campbell, CA, 2000

 

TEACHING

 

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

 

Department of English

Publications Committee, Center for Afro-American Studies, 1979-8

Judge, Fred Weld Herman and Shirle Dorothy Robbins Creative Writing Contests, 1981-82

Acquisitions Committee, English Reading Room, 1981-82, 1989

Executive Committee, 1982-83, 1994-95

American Studies Committee, 1983-84

Teaching Committee, 1986-88

Curriculum Committee, 1986-90

Faculty Advisor, Black English Students Assoc., 1988-92

English Dept./Writing Programs Liaison Committee, 1989-90

Undergraduate Committee, 1991-92

Review Committee, Teague-Melville-Elliott and Peter Rotter Essay Prizes, 1994

Graduate Committee, 1997-2002, 2003-04, 2007-10

Chair, Faculty Search Committee (African American Literature/Diaspora Studies), 2001-03

Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies

IAC Research Committee, 1982, l984, l986-88, 1997-98, 2003

Faculty Advisory Committee, 1985-88 (Chair 1987-88), 1989-92, 1993-2010 (Chair 2004-06)

Search Committee for the Director of the Center for Afro-American Studies, 1990-92, 1996-2001

Associate Director, 1993-94

Interim Director, 1997-2001, 2006-2007

Faculty Search Committee, 2001-02, 2009-10

Instructor and mentor, Summer Humanities Institute, 2001-10

Afro-American Studies Program

MA Admissions Committee, 1980-82, 1984-88, 1989-92, 1993-96, 2007-10

Committee on Afro-American Studies, 1981-88 (Co-chair 1987-88), 1989-92 (Chair 1990-92), 1993-2001 (Chair 1993-94), 2005-06, 2007-10

Chair, 1990-92, 1993-94

Faculty Search Committee, 1999-2000

Curriculum Review Committee, 2002-04

Personnel Committee, 2009-10

Misc. UCLA

Reviewer, Fulbright Fellowship Applications, 1982

Search Committee for Dean of Humanities of the College of Letters and Science, 1982-83

Faculty Contact, ASUCLA Bookstore, General Books Division, 1982-1995, 1997-2001

Council on Educational Development, 1983-84

Faculty Mentor, Summer Research Program, 1985-96, 2001

Curriculum Integration Project Steering Committee, 1986-88

Co-Facilitator, Ford Foundation/College of Letters and Science Ethnic Women's Curriculum Transformation Faculty Seminar (Interdisciplinary), 1990

Ethnic and Gender Studies Alliance Advisory Committee, Center for Academic Interinstitutional Programs, 1990-92

Dean's Advisory Council, Humanities Division, 1990-92

UCLA Representative, Engaging Cultural Legacies: Shaping Core Curricula in the Humanities, a conference sponsored by the Assoc. of American Colleges, Washington DC, August 8-12, 1991

Arts and Humanities General Education Ad Hoc Committee, 2009-10

University of California

Advisory Committee, Univ. of Calif./Calif. State Univ. Pre-Doctoral Program, 1990-92

Review Panel (Chair, Humanities Group), Univ. of Calif. President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, 1990, 1992

Review Panel, Univ. of Calif. President's Research Fellowships in the Humanities Program, 1994

Advisory Committee, Univ. of Calif. Humanities Research Institute, 2002-2005 (Chair, 2004-05)

Participant, Univ. of Calif. Systemwide African American Studies Faculty Meeting, convened by the Univ. of Calif. Humanities Research Institute, 2002-03

Participant, Univ. of Calif. Office of the President’s Workshop for Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellows, 2002-03

Reviewer, Univ. of Calif. President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, 2009-10

 

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Alice Childress Society

American Studies Association

Charles Waddell Chesnutt Association

College Language Association

Collegium of African American Research

George Moses Horton Society

Modern Language Association

Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States

 

                                                                                                            [Revised 6/20/10]