DUCHESS HARRIS, PhD, JD

When Black bus rider Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger in 1955, she helped ignite a civil rights struggle across the country. Rosa Parks Stays Seated examines this historic event from multiple perspectives, including those of Parks herself, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and Parks’s husband, Raymond. Easy-to-read text, vivid images, and helpful back matter give readers a clear look at this subject. Features include a table of contents, infographics, a glossary, additional resources, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Core Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Perspectives on American Progress
8-book Set
• Barack Obama Is Elected President
• The Discovery of the Polio Vaccine
• Eleanor Roosevelt Champions Women’s Rights
• The First Moon Landing
• The Internet Connects Us All
• Jackie Robinson Breaks Barriers
• The Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage
• Rosa Parks Stays Seated

Class in America
8-book Set
• The American Middle Class
• Being Poor in America
• Class and Education
• Class and Race
• Class Mobility
• The Future of Work in America
• The Health-Care Divide
• The One Percent

 

Published works

Racially Writing the Republic: Racists, Race Rebels, and Transformations of American Identity

Harris’s first book, Racially Writing the Republic: Racists, Race Rebels, and Transformations of American Identitywas co authored with Bruce Baum in 2009. Racially Writing the Republic investigates the central role of race in the construction and transformation of American national identity from the Revolutionary War era to the height of the civil rights movement. Drawing on political theory, American studies, critical race theory, and gender studies, the contributors to this collection highlight the assumptions of white (and often male) supremacy underlying the thought and actions of major U.S. political and social leaders. At the same time, they examine how nonwhite writers and activists have struggled against racism and for the full realization of America’s political ideals. The essays are arranged chronologically by subject, and, with one exception, each essay is focused on a single figure, from George Washington to James Baldwin. The Journal of American History referred to it as “American Studies at its finest”.

Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump

In 2018 Harris published Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump. Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump investigates the mainstreaming of Black feminist politics in the 21st century through studying key Black woman leaders in politics and social movements. Beginning in the mid 20th century, the book examines the political repercussions of the increased incarceration of Black men in the 1980s, leading to Black women mobilizing politically on a broad scale. This political mobilization is continuously felt today, through Black women’s involvement in local and national politics and political organizing. Harris argues that while Barack Obama’s presidency galvanized Black Americans to show up for the polls in record numbers, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement early in his second term spoke to the divisions and disagreements of Black Americans, the latter of whom felt Obama’s policies were achieving little to alleviate systemic barriers against Black Americans, along with the pervasive issue of police violence against Black Americans. The book also examines the question of how social media and digital organizing have amplified the platform and reshaping contemporary political struggles, specifically with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag

In 2020, Harris co-edited with Julia Jordan Zachery, Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag: Twenty-First-Century Acts of Self-Definition. The collection of essays is about how is Black Girl Magic is experienced offline, and how Black women and girls foster community, counter invisibility, engage in restorative acts, and create spaces for freedom.  Ms. magazine wrote about its publication,

An interdisciplinary collection of essays, this volume presents readers with a variety of critical feminist examinations and representations of #BlackGirlMagic offline and in the world. It is full of thoughtful and engaging pieces that will have broad appeal.

Duchess Harris Collection

Harris also serves as the curator and co-author of the “Duchess Harris Collection”, a set of scholarly books for students in Middle and High School, alongside ABDO publishing company. The “Duchess Harris Collection” focuses on historical and contemporary events and legislation that have had important political repercussions on both a national and global level. Packaged in sets of six to twelve books, each series addresses a different political or cultural event; for example “Race and the American Law”, “Class in America”, “Race and Sports”, and “News Literacy”.

Bibliography

Books and edited volumes

  • 2009. Racially Writing the Republic: Racists, Race Rebels, and Transformations of American Identity. Duke University Press, ed. with Bruce Baum. ISBN 0822344475.
  • 2009. Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230613300[29]
  • 2011. Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Obama (Second edn). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0230112552[30]
  • 2015. Black Lives Matter. ABDO Publishing with Sue Bradford Edwards. ISBN 978-1624038983[31]
  • 2016 “Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA.” ABDO Publishing with Sue Bradford Edwards ISBN 1680783874[32]
  • 2017 “Race and Policing” ABDO Publishing with Rebecca Rissman ISBN 1532110359[33]
  • 2018 Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump[34]
  • 2017-2019 The Duchess Harris Collection[35]
  • 2019 Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag: Twenty-First Century Acts of Self-Definition[36]

Contributions to books and essays

  • 2001. “Nineteenth Century Black Feminist Writing and Organizing as a Humanist Act”. In Anthony B. Pinn (ed.), By These Hands: A Documentary History of African-American Humanism, pp. 55–70. New York University Press. ISBN 0814766722.
  • 2001. “From Kennedy to Combahee: Black Feminist Activism from 1960 to 1980”. In Bettye Collier-Thomas, V.P. Franklin (eds.) Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement. pp. 280–305. New York University Press. ISBN 0814716032.[37][38]
  • 2004. “To Die for the People’s Temple: The Appropriation of Huey Newton by Jim Jones” with Adam John Waterman. In Rebecca Moore, Anthony B. Pinn, and Mary R. Sawyer (eds), Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America. pp. 103–122. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253216559.
  • 2018. “Michelle Obama Raising Black Daughters to Be Magic,” which is a chapter in Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls by Michelle Duster (Editor), Paula Marie Seniors (Editor), Rose C. Thevenin (Editor) 2018

Wikipedia