Angelita D. Reyes, PhD

Angelita D. Reyes, PhD, is an educator, award-winning author, and public historian with demonstrated success in university teaching, grant-funded projects, and higher education administration to promote and achieve equity, diversity, and inclusive practices. Advancing that “literacy is more than reading a newspaper or a book in the 21st century,” she is the founder and president of Literacy InterActives (LIA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. LIA sponsors the Parker Sydnor historic preservation initiative in Southside Virginia. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register through her public-facing research and civic engagement. With statewide significance, the historic site has a Virginia Historical Highway Marker. She writes for The Mecklenburg Sun (Southside Virginia) and other media outlets. She is the author of Not Even Past: Six Acres and A Mule or Searching for Vicey Skipwith (Commonplace: The Journal of Early American Life, April 2012), a pivotal essay on women and property ownership in the long line of African American women furthering the rights for equity and self-determination. Following the killing of George Floyd, Dr. Reyes was a commentator on NPR’s “Weekend Edition.” That summer, she “urgently” produced the successful online mini-series, “Summer Roadmaps: Race and Culture in the USA,” in honor of Mr. Floyd. She is professor emerita at Arizona State University in the School of Social Transformation.