who am i?

i am a proud third-generation Black chicagolander who has lived on every side of chicago and in its north, south, and west suburbs. i am also the granddaughter of southern Black migrants who ventured north during the second wave of the great migration (1940-1970) and settled on the west side before moving to the south side. when i asked my beloved grandfather why he left his home in the deep mississippi delta to come to chicago in 1957, he enthusiastically replied, "...because my brother told me that every day in chicago was like christmas!" my grandparents made the courageous decision to make my family and i chicagolanders who have lived in and moved through this city-region since their arrival. i do not take my grandparent's decision for granted. 

chicagoland is my favorite geography and has largely shaped who i am. i am beyond grateful to call this place my home. 

my research, teaching, and public humanities work brings together Black geographies, sub\urbanization, the politics of scale, migration, political economy, placemaking, geomusicology, and geosonicology to understand how Black people shape the chicago metropolitan area, but how they are shaped by it. my work broadens the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological scope of Blackness with sustained attention to the social, cultural, economic, political, and spatial complexities of Black life across chicagoland. i ground my work in my love for and commitment to chicagoland and its people, which courses through my veins like the l trains routing my city-region. chicagoland is my research and teaching site, but it is also my home, which i approach with scholarly rigor, tremendous care, and endless wonder.

i have published in the professional geographer, music and science, and the journal of urban affairs. i founded the Black geographies graduate student conference and the Black geosonicologies research group. i also helped develop berkeley Black geographies as the first recipient of the Black geographies fellowship at the university of california, berkeley. during my time as a berkeley Black geographies fellow, i authored the first Black geographies library guide through the earth sciences and map library.