I am Professor Emerita of English and African American Studies from Wesleyan University. I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and grew up in Chicago, Dayton, Ohio and Kansas City, Missouri. I graduated from the University of Michigan with honors, and I hold M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University.

I've had a rich and varied teaching and administrative career throughout the country. High points were at Reed and Bowdoin Colleges, and at Columbia, Princeton, and Wesleyan Universities.

I live in Massachusetts with an amazingly fabulous Welsh Terrier, Ella.