Melissa L. Cooper is an assistant professor of history at Rutgers University–Newark specializing in African American intellectual and cultural history, and the history of the African Diaspora. Dr. Cooper has taught in New Jersey public high schools, and is active in efforts to reverse gaps in student achievement and to foster diversity among educators and scholars. Her most recent book, published in 2017, is Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race and the American Imagination.
Project Title: "'Cyan' Help From Cryin' Sometime:' Black Suffering, White Fantasies"