Alexander Byrd

Alexander Byrd is the Vice Provost for the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence at Rice University (since 2020), overseeing diversity initiatives. He holds the rank of Associate Professor of History, specializing in Afro-American studies, transatlantic migration, and the Jim Crow South. His seminal work Captives & Voyagers (2009) examines forced and free black migration in the eighteenth-century British Atlantic world. Byrd has received multiple teaching awards, including the George R. Brown Award (four times) and the 2020 Piper Professor honor. He also serves on educational equity projects in Houston’s public schools and co-edits a volume on race and place in Houston.

Education: PhD in History (Duke University), BA in History and English (Rice University).

Research Interests:

• Atlantic World and diasporic histories
• Racial formations in colonial and modern contexts
• Public engagement in African American studies

Awards and Recognition:

• 2009 Wesley-Logan Prize (African Diaspora History)
• 2010 Douglass Adair Memorial Award (Top Article in William and Mary Quarterly)

Teaching & Leadership: Founded Rice’s African and African American Studies minor, led Wiess College as magister (2011–2016), and advises projects on race, education, and urban history.