A former Detroit Public Schools teacher, Dr. Thomas’s program of research is focused on children’s and adolescent literature, the teaching of African American literature, and the role of race in classroom discourse and interaction. Dr. Thomas has published her research and critical scholarship in journals and edited volumes and is the coeditor of Reading African American Experiences in the Obama Era: Theory, Advocacy, Activism (Peter Lang, 2012). She is currently a 2014–2015 National Academy of Education/ Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow.