She earned her MA and PhD in American History at the University of Virginia. She also holds a BA in Black Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies from Swarthmore College. Her first book project, “The Strange Career of Juan Crow: Latino/as and the Making of the U.S. South, 1940-2000,” examines the social and cultural history of Latinos in the post-World War II South. She traces the history of Latino/as, primarily Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans, during the demise of Jim Crow segregation and their transformation from an ethnic group to a racial one. Her work helps historicize contemporary Latino/a migration to the U.S. South and emphasizes the importance of region in shaping Latino/a identity.