Dr. Reginald K. Ellis is an Associate Professor of History at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Florida. His undergraduate and MA degrees in history come from Florida A&M, and he received the PhD in history from the University of Memphis in 2011. Dr. Ellis has written numerous articles on the African American struggle to achieve equal educational opportunities at the collegiate level. His new book, Between Washington and DuBois: The Racial Politics of James Edward Shepard, appeared with the University of Florida Press this fall.

Our interview will focus on Prof. Ellis’s new book as well as his forthcoming article entitled, “Florida State Normal and Industrial School for Coloreds: Thomas DeSalle Tucker and His Radical Approach to Black Higher Education,” which will appear in The Seedtime, The Work, and The Harvest: New Perspectives on the Black Freedom Struggle in America (Florida University Press, 2018).