Dr. Vida Robertson

DIRECTOR AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Center for Critical Race Studies

Men of L.E.G.A.C.I. Success Program 

University of Houston-Downtown

EDUCATION:

Murray State University

BA in Philosophy

Miami University (Ohio)

MA in African American Literature

PhD in English - African American Literature (Harlem Renaissance, CRT & Literary Criticism

EXPERIENCE:        

Vida Robertson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of English and serves as the Director of the Center for Critical Race Studies at the University of Houston-Downtown. He teaches a wide range of Critical Race Theory and African American literature courses. His primary research and teaching interests are in late nineteenth and twentieth century African American literature, the Africana Studies, Critical Race Theory, and Disability Studies. 

Dr. Robertson is deeply committed to community engagement and service opportunities related to equality, education and empowerment. His research has led to published works in African American, Caribbean and Afro-European literature and culture. Dr. Robertson is presently developing a book length project entitled The Color of Race: A Critical Exploration of Albinism in the Literature of the African Diaspora which documents and critically examines the way "Black albinism" destabilizes essentialist notions of race by facilitating a paradoxical definition of both blackness and whiteness in Western culture. Dr. Robertson is the co-founder of the Men of L.E.G.A.C.I Student Success Program at the University of Houston-Downtown that works to create retention initiatives and persistence efforts for male students of color. He is a member of several research organizations including: the American Literature College English Association, the Association of Critical Ethnic Studies, the Modern Language National Association of African American Studies. He annually take students to Ghana, Africa for study abroad research and cultural global immersion as well as hosts reading and literacy campaigns that have impacted thousands of low-socio economic youth.

He is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated.