Like so many of our fellows, J. L. Jeffries travels a great deal. He
joins us in Bloomington haing just completed a PhD in Political Science
at the University of Southern California. Last summer he held an ABD
fellowship at Virginia Tech. Before that he was the recipient of a
dissertation fellowship at Tufts University.
From here, he heads to Georgia State University's African American Studies Department for a post doctoral fellowship during which he hopes to continue the lengthy process of transforming his dissertation into a book. Entitled "Douglas Wilder and the Politics of Race," Jeffries' work examines the electoral politics of the 1989 Virginia Gubernatorial contest. Douglas Wilder was this nation's very first elected black governor and Jeffries examines the multi-faceted role that race played in the election. "I also explore the impact Wilder had on the lives of black people in Virginia." Jeffries says. "I had some interviews with him. He was very down to earth and is still quite active in politics."
While here, Jeffries taught a course for IU's African American Studies Department entitled "African American Politics." The course included political movements and issues spanning the entire 20th century, from the Black Women's Suffrage movement to the Civil Rights Movement. Not only did Jeffries continue with his own work here at IU ("Bloomington is a place where you can get a lot of work done, the Department was very supportive!"), but he contributed his time both to his department and to the Minority Faculty Fellowship Program itself. He was instrumental in planning a grant writing and research workshop for MFFP participants, thereby instituting what we hope will become an annual MFFP tradition. Furthermore, he gave a successful talk about black electoral politics.