Bernadette Pruitt

Bernadette Pruitt is an Associate Professor of History at Sam Houston State University (SHSU), serving since 1996. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Houston (2001), and degrees from Texas Southern University (M.A., 1991; B.A., 1989). Her research focuses on African American migration, urbanization, and civil rights, with notable work on Houston's Black communities during the 20th century. She is the author of The Other Great Migration (2017), awarded the 2014 Ottis Lock Superior Book Award. Pruitt teaches courses on Black history, civil rights, and U.S. urban development.

Professionally, she has served as East Texas Historical Association president, OAH Committee on Women in the Profession, and Texas State Historical Association board member. She advises SHSU’s Phi Alpha Theta and Sigma Gamma Rho chapters. Outside academia, Pruitt is active in Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church and engages in cultural studies of classic films and television.