Sherita Johnson has been named director of the Africana Research Center in the College of Liberal Arts at Pennsylvania State University. The center aims to stimulate and sustain the development of relevant and appropriate initiatives at Penn State that foster diversity and an increased understanding and appreciation of the history, life, and culture of African diasporic peoples.
In addition to her directorial role, Dr. Johnson has been named an associate professor of English and a 2024-2025 Just Transformations Commonwealth Faculty Fellow in the Center for Black Digital Research. Prior to Penn State, she spent nearly two decades with the University of Southern Mississippi, serving as an associate professor of English and director of the Center for Black Studies.
Dr. Johnson is a scholar of nineteenth-century African American literature and print culture. She has conducted extensive archival research on the experiences of Black writers, activists, and public intellectuals. She also has a background in forming community partnerships with museums, cultural centers, and civic organizations to bring attention to Black culture in historical narratives. She is the author of Black Women in New South Literature and Culture (Routledge, 2010).
Dr. Johnson is a magna cum laude graduate of historically Black Alabama State University, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
