Melina Pappademos

Melina Pappademos is Associate Professor of History at the University of Connecticut's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, with faculty affiliations in Africana Studies and Latin American Studies. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University.

Research explores racial consciousness and political cultures in Cuba, the African diaspora, and Latin America. Her award-winning book Black Political Activism and the Cuban Republic analyzes black civic engagement during Cuba's republican period (1902-1959). Current work examines racial symbolism in 1930s-1940s Cuba.

Major awards include:

• Murdo J. Macleod Best Book Prize (2012)
• Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
• W.E.B. Du Bois Institute Fellowships
• NEH Summer Research Fellowship

She is currently developing research on racial symbolism during Cuba's transformative mid-20th century period.