Gloria J. Ashaolu, Ph.D. is a UC President’s and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Education at UCLA.

Her research interests include, but are not limited to African American History, History of Education and Race, Black Women’s History, Intellectual History, and Black Diaspora/Comparative Black Studies. Her current book-length project examines the pedagogy, curriculum, praxis, and activism of local Black female teachers during the Jim Crow era of segregation toward the advancement of the Black Freedom Struggle.

Dr. Ashaolu’s scholarship has appeared in The Journal of African American History, the oldest and leading scholarly journal in its field. Her writing has also produced a public-facing publication titled, “Black Mothers and the Lingering Wounds of Racial Violence” in Black Perspectives, the award-winning blog of The African American Intellectual History Society. She has a forthcoming publication (co-author with Pero G. Dagbovie) in The SAGE Encyclopedia of African American Education. 

Dr. Ashaolu’s research has been supported by the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, Mellon Foundation, Social Science Research Council, Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, and more. She serves on the Leadership Team at The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL).

Through her commitment to research, teaching, and service, she aspires to create meaningful historical work that helps us better understand the present through our collective history, towards a more just and inclusive society.

Education

Ph.D., History, Michigan State University

B.A., History, B.A. in African American and African Diaspora Studies, and a minor’s certificate from the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley

Email: ashaolug [at] ucla.edu