Nakia Parker

Nakia Parker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Michigan State University (MSU), affiliated with the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program. Her research focuses on 19th-century U.S. slavery, African American history, and Native American history. She earned her Ph.D. in History from The University of Texas at Austin in 2019 and previously served as a College of Social Science Dean’s Research Associate in MSU’s History Department.

Her current book project, Trails of Tears, Lives of Bondage, examines enslaved and self-liberated individuals of African and Afro-Native descent in Choctaw and Chickasaw communities in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Her work has been supported by grants from MSU HARP, AAUW, OAH, and the Western History Association. Her scholarship appears in The Journal of African American History, Southern Cultures, and 400 Souls, a New York Times bestseller.

Parker collaborates with the Enslaved.org research team and leads Black Women Legacies, a nonprofit creating an online database of memorials and historic sites honoring Black women globally. Her research has been featured on The History Channel, the Teaching Hard History podcast, and UT Austin’s 15 Minute History.

• Awards: MSU HARP, AAUW, OAH grants, Western History Association recognition
• Public Engagement: Podcast collaborations, public history websites