​Dr. Kathryn M. Silva

Dr. Kathryn M. Silva serves as Chair and Assistant Professor of History in the Department of Humanities.

Biography

Kathryn M. Silva, Ph.D. is the Chair of the Department of Humanities and assistant professor of History at Claflin University. Her teaching includes the role of race and gender in the United States and the World. Courses include African American Women's History, Lowcountry in the Atlantic World, History of Women in the United States, African Kingdoms, and the History of Modern Africa. Her teaching and mentorship have earned her several awards, including The Daniel A. Augsburger Excellence in Teaching Award from Andrews University (2010) and the Womyn's Resource Center Faculty Mentor of the Year Award (2015-2016) from Utica College.

Silva's book manuscript in progress, “At Times We May Seem Bold:” African American Women in the Southern Textile Industry, 1890-1954," examines the role of women in the southern textile industry. She has recently published, “Daughters and Sons of the Dust: The Challenges of Accuracy in African American Historical Film” The History Teacher, in the issue “Race in the United States, Part I: African Slave Trade,” (February 2018) and “African American Millhands, the Durham Hosiery Mills, and the Politics of Race and Gender in the Durham’s Textile Industry, 1903-1920” North Carolina Historical Review, Spring 2017. Her research received support from several grants, including the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture, Duke University, Institute for Southern Studies, University of South Carolina, and the Archie K. Davis Fellowship, North Caroliniana Society, Chapel Hill.

She served as co-lead writer and Program Director on a $500,000 three-year Andrew W. Mellon Grant awarded in December 2017 to aid Claflin in infusing workforce competencies in Humanities General Education courses.

Dr. Silva holds a B.A. in History and Africana Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a Masters and Doctorate in History from the University of South Carolina.

Education

• PhD, History, University of South Carolina, 2010
• MA, History, University of South Carolina, 2007
• BA, Africana Studies, History, University of Massachusetts, Boston, 2003

Research Interests

• African American History
• African American Women's History
• Civil Rights and African American Nationalism
• Emergence of Modern Africa
• History of Colonial Africa
• Research and Methods

Experience

Assistant Professor of African and African American History, Department of History, International Studies Program, Utica College, Utica, New York, 2014-2016

Assistant Professor of History, Department of History and Political Science, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, 2010-2014