Dr. Angelita D. Reyes is professor emerita in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. Her pivotal work, Mothering Across Cultures: Postcolonial Representations, engages historical
inquiry and interdisciplinary humanities to analyze “mothering” as a framework for Black women’s intellectual and cultural traditions in Africa and the African diaspora. Reyes has also edited books and articles on race, class, and gender for social justice. Her articles have appeared in numerous multidisciplinary publications.
Responding to a call for community-engaged scholarship, Reyes is the founder and executive director of Literacy InterActives, Inc. (LIA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the idea that, based on historic preservation, public history, digital technology, and community engagement, “in the 21st century, literacy is more than reading a newspaper or a
book.”
Under Dr. Reyes’s leadership, along with community stakeholders and corporate funding, LIA has received awards and grants from organizations such as the American Association for State and Local History, the Carnegie Humanities Investment Fund (Arizona State University), and the National Park Service African American Civil Rights Grant Program.
Reyes was a Fulbright Scholar in Benin, West Africa, and is a lifetime member of the Fulbright Alumni Association. At the invitation of the U.S. Department of State, she participated in a public diplomacy program, giving lectures at community and university venues in Kazakhstan.
In 2020, after George Floyd was killed, Dr. Reyes appeared as a commentator on NPR’s “Weekend Edition.” To honor Mr. Floyd, she produced the successful online mini-series, “Summer Roadmaps: Race and Culture in the USA,” sponsored by the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Tempe (Arizona).
Dr. Reyes holds a master’s degree in international education from New York University and a PhD in comparative literature and anthropology from The University of Iowa.