Deborah E. McDowell
Encyclopedia
Deborah E. McDowell is an American author and professor, the Alice Griffin professor of literary studies, and the director of the Carter G. Woodson
Institute for African-American and African Studies, at the University of Virginia
.
. She wrote about her childhood in her debut memoir Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin.
, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Purdue University
. She has been on the faculty of the University of Virginia since 1987. She founded the African-American Women Writers Series at Beacon Press
, and was its editor from 1985 to 1993.
Carter G. Woodson
Carter Godwin Woodson was an African-American historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Woodson was one of the first scholars to study African American history. A founder of Journal of Negro History , Dr...
Institute for African-American and African Studies, at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
.
Early life
Mcdowell was born and raised in Bessemer, AlabamaBessemer, Alabama
Bessemer is a city outside of Birmingham in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States eight miles west of Hoover. The population was 29,672 at the 2000 Census, but by the 2009 U.S...
. She wrote about her childhood in her debut memoir Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin.
Academic and writing career
McDowell received a B.A. from Tuskegee UniversityTuskegee University
Tuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
. She has been on the faculty of the University of Virginia since 1987. She founded the African-American Women Writers Series at Beacon Press
Beacon Press
Beacon Press is an American non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association.Beacon Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses....
, and was its editor from 1985 to 1993.