Jessica Graham

Jessica Graham is a Professor of History at UC San Diego specializing in comparative racial politics in Brazil and the United States. Her award-winning book Shifting the Meaning of Democracy examines how communism, fascism, World War II, and Black activism shaped democratic ideals in both nations during the 1930s-1940s. Her work has received multiple honors from major academic associations in Latin American and diaspora studies.

Research interests focus on the intersection of racial identity, nationalism, and political systems, particularly analyzing how international debates transformed racial exclusion into inclusion rhetoric. Current projects investigate Black activists across ideological spectrums in 1930s Brazil.