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Tanisha is an acclaimed writer, historian, and professor working at the intersection of politics and culture.
Meet the Author
BOOKS BY TANISHA
In graduate school, I began developing the method that would come to define my scholarship: eclectic archiving.
I am an interdisciplinary historian. This means that historical methods ground my research, but I understand that I must use them in conjunction with other methods to reveal things for which the archive cannot account or explain. I expand an archive of paper records to include objects like family heirlooms, yearbooks, album covers, and vintage restaurant menus.
Eclectic archiving is the means by which I assemble and read these objects, vis-a-vis manuscript collections, oral interviews, and cultural ephemera. I take into account that objects have a different texture than paper documents - they live and breathe differently.
When I account for their different textures and tones, the result is a written body of work or a visual story that is multi-dimensional - ALIVE! - in its variegated narrative work. I love to piece together vibrant, untold histories of women who came of age during the turbulent 1960s. I aim to write stories that allow us to be messy and flawed, fully HUMAN. Learn more about my journey.
Writing a New Book
For the past several years, I’ve been quietly working on a book on the black women powerbrokers who raised millions of dollars for racial justice causes during the Civil Rights era. I’m happy to share that that book will be coming to a bookseller near you soon...if I can meet these writing deadlines. Follow my book journey on Instagram!
Partnering with the Smithsonian
I've been named a Smithsonian Research Associate, affiliated with the National Museum of American History. I am excited to work with a team of brilliant curators and scholars on a multi-year African American Fundraising Initiative. This project is richly aligned with my new research on Black women's philanthropy and the cultural-economics of money in urban communities.
New America/Emerson Collective Fellowship
I've been named a 2022-2023 New America/Emerson Collective Fellow! This is a wonderful opportunity to finish my book, Our Secret Society, in a supportive environment. Since 1999, the Fellows Program has been home to over 250 Fellows, supporting creative storytellers whose projects have produced 141 books, 13 films, and more than 25 longform reporting projects. New America supports changemakers—journalists, educators, filmmakers, and researchers working to shape the conversation on the critical issues of today.
Tanisha’s lectures take audiences on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, making history come alive for them in fresh new ways. She is also a thoughtful and innovative consultant who brings more than a decade of experience advising organizations—from the Chicago History Museum to Essence—on how to ethically and fastidiously center race and gender issues in the content they produce. She also advises corporations on ways to foster equity in the workplace.
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