Melissa N. Stuckey

Melissa N. Stuckey serves as Associate Professor of History and Director of Public History at the University of South Carolina's McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, a position she assumed in 2023 after prior faculty appointments at the University of Oregon and Elizabeth City State University.

Her academic credentials:

• Princeton University (A.B.)
• Yale University (M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.)

Stuckey's research centers on African American communities and early twentieth century freedom struggles, with specialized expertise in Black migration movements and all-Black towns. Her work bridges academic scholarship and community engagement through public history initiatives focused on historic preservation, cemetery restoration, and mapping segregation-era African American business districts across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Oklahoma.

Her publication portfolio demonstrates consistent focus on Black town development in Oklahoma and migration patterns, with recurring themes of community resilience and spatial politics in African American history.

She directs major federally funded preservation projects, including the $2.5+ million rehabilitation of Elizabeth City State University's Rosenwald Practice School complex, leveraging National Park Service, IMLS, and NEH grants to advance historic conservation and public interpretation of African American heritage sites.