He also specializes in the history of race relations in both the United States and Latin America. Dr. Waters received his doctorate from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012. While at Chapel Hill, he worked with Dr. Harry L. Watson and the noted African American historian Dr. John Hope Franklin. Dr. Waters’ own research has focused on the history of African Americans in Asheville and Western North Carolina. More recently, Dr. Waters has written about issues surrounding the construction of the nation’s collective historical memory, exploring the impact that that memory has on the present.