She is the author of Black for a Day: White Fantasies of Race and Empathy (UNC Press 2017). With a doctorate in English and certificate in African American and African Studies from Duke University, a Carter G. Woodson Postdoctoral Fellowship in African and African American Studies from the University of Virginia, and a life-long fandom of Michael Jackson, Gaines teaches courses in queer theory, African American literature and culture, black protest, Shakespeare, black humor, Oprah and the South.