Her research and teaching are focused upon African diaspora religions of the Caribbean and Latin America, and particularly festivity and ritual. She teaches courses which consider the effects of colonization and the slave trade upon religious practice in the Americas. Schmidt is a Black Lives Matter activist, and on August 12, she was in Charlottesville organizing against the white supremacist Unite the Right rally. A related article by Schmidt describes the school’s history of connections to the KKK and its alumnus, white nationalist leader Richard Spence: “UVA Prof on UVA’s Historical Ties to KKK & White Nationalist Alums Richard Spencer & Jason Kessler,” Democracy Now, August 14, 2017