Professor, Director of Graduate Studies
Phone: (901) 678-3099
Fax: (901) 678- 2226
Email: vdmtchll@memphis.edu
Office: Patterson 415
Concentration Affiliation: African American Literature, Literary and Cultural Studies

Education

B.S., 1979, Political Science, US Air Force Academy
M.A., 1985, English, Colorado State University
Ph.D., 1995, English, Rutgers University

Academic Summary

Dr. Mitchell teaches a broad range of African American literature courses. His principal area of research has been women writers of the Harlem Renaissance. He is currently working on two projects, one on Zora Neale Hurston, and a second on the actress and social activist Rose McClendon.

Select Publications

• Literary Sisters: Dorothy West and Her Circle, A Biography of the Harlem Renaissance. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2012. Co-authored with Cynthia Davis.
• Western Echoes of the Harlem Renaissance: The Life and Writings of Anita Scott Coleman. Norman: U of Oklahoma Press, 2008. Co-edited with Cynthia Davis.
• Where the Wild Grape Grows: Selected Writings by Dorothy West, 1930-1950. Amherst: U of Massachusetts Press, 2005. Co-edited with Cynthia Davis.
• This Waiting for Love: Helene Johnson, Poet of the Harlem Renaissance. Amherst: U of Massachusetts Press. 2000.