Bio

Barbara Harris Combs teaches Sociology and Criminal Justice at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology with a concentration in race and urban studies from Georgia State University in 2010. She also holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Ohio State University and an MA in English from Xavier University (Ohio). She brings this interdisciplinary background to her study of society.  She is the author of From Selma to Montgomery: The Long March to Freedom, a book about the Selma campaign for voting rights. The book chronicles the marches, placing them in the context of the long Civil Rights Movement, and considers the legacy of the Voting Rights Act, drawing parallels with contemporary issues of enfranchisement. Her research focuses on the role place (as a geographical, social/cultural, and class construct) has on modern identity formation and human relations, especially race relations. The RDCJN project she is working on is a book proposal (tentatively called Blackout: Theorizing the Continuing Assault Against Black Bodies) where she examines recent cases of police and extrajudicial violence against black bodies.