Yęmisi Jimoh, a professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was recently honored with the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS) Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Dr. Jimoh was recognized for her significant contributions to the organization as a past president; as a contributor, reviewer, and guest editor for the journal MELUS; and as a force behind the continuation and revitalization of the women in color caucus.
As a literary and cultural analyst, Dr. Jimoh focuses her scholarship and teaching on African American culture and literary studies, with additional research interests in critical race studies, narratology, and onomastics. She teaches courses in twentieth-century African American literature and has particular interests in African American literary movements and African American women novelists.
Professor Jimoh is the co-editor of These Truly Are the Brave: An Anthology of African American Writings on War and Citizenship (University Press of Florida, 2015) and the author of Spiritual, Blues, and Jazz People in African American Fiction (University of Tennessee Press, 2002).
Dr. Jimoh joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in 2005 after teaching at the University of Arkansas. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Washington. She earned a Ph.D. in English and U.S. literatures from the University of Houston.
