T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting  is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Distinguished Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University where she is also Vice Provost for Arts and Libraries. A comparative Europeanist and scholar of women, gender, and African Diaspora Studies, she is author and editor of 15 books and three novels, the latest of which includes La Vénus hottentote: écrits, 1810 à 1814, suivi des textes inédits and Bricktop’s Paris: African American Women in Paris Between the Two World Wars.

(Photo credit: Vanderbilt University)