Alyssa Lopez

Assistant Professor

Contact Information:

alopez7@providence.edu

401.865.1119

Ruane Center for the Humanities 122

Education:

Ph.D. - Michigan State University

Area(s) of Expertise:

Alyssa Lopez is a historian of early twentieth century African American history with particular interests in film and activism. Her current work is focused on black film culture in New York City before WWII, which considers the various means that black New Yorkers utilized theaters and cinema to practice and engage in self-determination, equal access to citizenship in the city, and urban modernity in the face of an overwhelmingly exclusionary society.

Dr. Lopez is also an associate editor for Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History. She has published book reviews in The Journal of African American History and Essays in History & currently has a forthcoming article in The Journal of African American History entitled "The Dangers and Pleasures of Moviegoing: Black Girls in Harlem's Movie Theaters Before World War II."

Before coming to Providence College, she earned her Ph.D. at Michigan State University while a King-Chávez-Parks Future-Faculty-Fellow. Originally from Queens, New York, she earned her B.A. from Queens College, where she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and first-generation student.