FAMU Assistant Professor of History Reginald Ellis was recently
selected to serve as a fellow in the 2013 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Harvard University's Du Bois Institute on African-American Struggles for Freedom and Civil Rights.
“I was extremely elated to have been selected to participate
in this institute, which will be conducted by some of the leading scholars in
the field of African-American history,” a humbled Ellis said.
The NEH Institute is
part of an ongoing effort to provide a deeper understanding of African-American
efforts to secure full citizenship and civil rights, and to situate that
movement within the broader context of American history.
During the
four-week-long program, Ellis, along with 29 teachers from around the nation,
will engage in an intensive program of reading and discussion with leading
scholars, reviewing new and recent scholarship as well as a rich array of
sources – oral histories, memoirs, documentary films, music and archival
sources. Participating teachers will work in small groups to revise courses
they currently teach, develop plans for new courses, and/or create units on
specific topics or texts.
Ellis specializes in the history of Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and African-American leaders during the Jim
Crow era. His major area of
concentration is African-American history with three minor areas of concentration
— United States history since 1877, contemporary African history, and oral
history.
Ellis received a bachelor’s degree in African-American
studies and a master’s degree in United States history since 1865 from
FAMU. He also earned a doctorate in
history from the University of Memphis.