SNCC and Grassroots Organizing NEH Humanities Fellow
Monet Lewis-Timmons is an English PhD candidate and an African American Public Humanities Initiative (AAPHI) Fellow at the University of Delaware. Her research highlights the archive of writer, educator, and activist Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935) to understand why and how Dunbar-Nelson crafted her collection throughout her lifetime. Her work also recognizes the role descendants play in preserving and maintaining their ancestor’s archives as seen through the labor of Dunbar-Nelson’s niece Pauline A. Young. Her dissertation exhibition project, “‘My diary is going to be a valuable thing one of these days:’ The Cross-Generational Lifecycle of Black Women’s Archives,” utilizes Dunbar-Nelson’s correspondence, diaries, and scrapbooks to suggest a reinterpretation of Black women’s collecting practices that centers their intention to redefine and reimagine themselves through their material objects. Through curation and public speaking, Monet’s work encourages scholars, students, and community members to rethink their understanding of Black women’s history and reflect on their own archival formation.