He graduated with B.A. in history from the University of Louisville (1994), and a Ph.D. from history at the University of Pennsylvania (2002). Since 2002, he has taught courses on United States history; urbanization and African American culture and history at UWT. He has published in a variety of forums including the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Ohio Valley History Journal, the Journal of Social History and the Journal of Urban History. His book Way Up North in Louisville: African American Migration in the Urban South, 1930-1970 was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2010.