Kellie Carter Jackson
Kellie Carter Jackson is the Knafel Assistant Professor of the Humanities in the Department of Africana Studies at Wellesley College.
Her book, Force & Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence (University of Pennsylvania Press) was a finalist for the MAAH Stone Book Prize Award for 2019. The Washington Post also listed Force and Freedom as one of 13 books to read on the history of Black America.
Carter Jackson is co-editor of Reconsidering Roots: Race, Politics, & Memory (Athens: University of Georgia Press). With a forward written by Henry Louis Gates Jr., Reconsidering Roots is the first scholarly collection of essays devoted entirely to understanding the remarkable tenacity of Alex Haley’s visual, cultural, and political influence on American history. Carter Jackson and Erica Ball have also edited a Special Issue on the 40th Anniversary of Roots for Transition Magazine (Issue 122}. Together, Ball and Carter Jackson have curated the largest collection essays dedicated to the history and impact of Roots. Carter Jackson was also featured in the History Channel's documentary, Roots: A History Revealed which was nominated for a NAACP Image Award in 2016.
Her essays have been featured in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, Time, The Conversation, Boston’s NPR Blog Cognoscenti, Black Perspectives, and Quartz. She has also been interviewed for her expertise for MSNBC, SkyNews (UK), The New York Times, PBS, The Huff Post, the BBC, Boston Public Radio, Al Jazeera International, Slate, The Telegraph, Reader’s Digest, CBC, and Radio One. Carter Jackson has also been featured in a host of documentaries on history and race in the United States. Carter Jackson is also a commissioner for the Massachusetts Historical Commission, where she represents the Museum of African American History in Boston.
She earned her B.A at her beloved Howard University and her Ph.D from Columbia University working with the esteemed historian Eric Foner. She has been awarded fellowships such as the Harvard College Fellowship in the Department of African & African American Studies at Harvard University and the Newhouse Faculty Fellowship for the Center of the Humanities at Wellesley College.
Before coming to Wellesley College, Carter Jackson was a Harvard College Fellow in the Department of African & African American Studies at Harvard University. She earned her Ph.D in American History at Columbia University working under the esteemed historian Eric Foner.
