Jarvis R. Givens

Dr. Jarvis R. Givens is a Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a faculty affiliate in the African and African American Studies Department at Harvard University. He specializes in the history of African American education, focusing on race, power, and resistance in educational systems. His work is supported by major grants from the Mellon and Spencer Foundations. Currently on leave in 2025, he earned his Ph.D. in African American Studies from UC Berkeley (2016).

Education:

• Ph.D., African American Studies, UC Berkeley, 2016

Research Interests: Dr. Givens examines the historical and contemporary roles of Black educators in challenging systemic oppression. His interdisciplinary approach integrates Black Studies and digital humanities, notably through the Black Teacher Archive, a digital repository of African American educators' materials. He also explores themes of Black student life, subversive pedagogy, and the legacy of figures like Carter G. Woodson.

Awards & Grants:

• Ford Foundation Fellowship
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant (2023–2026)
• Spencer Foundation Grant
• Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship

Advising & Projects: Leads the Black Teacher Archive (BTA), a collaborative initiative digitizing over 50,000 pages of historical materials from Colored Teachers Associations. Projects include curriculum development for teacher training, public Wikipedia edit-a-thons, and summer institutes for emerging scholars. He also prepares new editions of classics like The Mis-Education of the Negro.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with Prof. Imani Perry and archivist Micha Broadnax on the BTA. Partnerships span over 50 institutions to recover marginalized educational histories through digital humanities tools like geographical mapping and text analysis.