Francena Turner is a CLIR Fellow and Postdoctoral Associate for Data Curation in African American History and Culture for the University of Maryland Restorative Justice Project where her archival and oral history work sits at the intersection of African American History, Culture, and Digital Humanities (AADHum), oral history, and the University of Maryland Libraries. Turner is also an adjunct lecturer in the department of Intelligence Studies, Geospatial Science, Political Science, and History (IGPH) at Fayetteville State where she teachers African American History. Her critical studies of histories of Black education, Black women’s higher education, and activist scholars explore historical and contemporary issues of equity, agency, and thriving in education writ large. In her dissertation research for example, she used oral history methodology to explore the organizing and activism experiences of Black women who attended Fayetteville State during the Civil Rights/Black Power Era. Such scholarship provides valuable information and possibilities for current organizers and activists. Turner holds a PhD in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership with a concentration in History of Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and degrees from Fayetteville State University (BA History) and Fayetteville Technical Community College (A.A.S. Respiratory Care, General Education).
