Danielle Wiggins

Danielle Wiggins is an Assistant Professor of History at the California Institute of Technology, affiliated with the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences. She holds a B.A. from Yale University (2012) and a Ph.D. from Emory University (2018), joining Caltech in 2019. Her research focuses on modern African American politics and culture, with an emphasis on U.S. history since 1970. Her current project explores the intersection of post-civil rights Black politics and the emergence of the 'New' Democratic Party from the mid-1970s onward.

Wiggins has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (2022) and the Institute for Citizens and Scholars Career Enhancement Fellowship (2022), which supported her work on a book examining how Black leaders drew upon historical political strategies during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2025, she received the Arnold L. and Lois S. Graves Award in the Humanities.

Her scholarship bridges academic and public engagement, as seen in her participation in interdisciplinary collaborations, such as examining electoral systems and democratic processes with Caltech experts. Wiggins actively contributes to discussions on Black political history and its contemporary relevance.