She received in B.A. in History and a minor in Africana Studies from Franklin and Marshall College, a M.A. in History from Tufts University, and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a forthcoming essay in The Urban South During the Civil War Era, edited by Andrew L. Slap and Frank Towers and an article in Slavery and Freedom in Savannah (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2013). She is currently at work on revising a book manuscript on the development of African American public schools in Richmond, VA and Mobile, AL. and an article on the role of tourism in legitimating African American public schools in Richmond, VA, 1865-1885.