Sabrina Pendergrass

Sabrina Pendergrass serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of African American and African Studies within the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia, with her office located in Minor Hall 228.

Her research centers on race, inequality, internal migration, cultural sociology, and the U.S. South, examining how regional identities intersect with structural disparities. She is currently completing a book manuscript under contract with Oxford University Press analyzing the economic, social, and cultural dimensions of African American reverse migration from Northern and Western regions back to the Southern United States.

Her publication trajectory reveals sustained scholarly engagement with migration patterns, particularly the contemporary reversal of the Great Migration. This body of work systematically investigates how race, class, and cultural capital mediate relocation decisions and post-migration experiences in urban Southern contexts, while also advancing theoretical frameworks around symbolic boundaries and identity formation.

Recognition for her research includes prestigious awards from professional associations:

• Association of Black Sociologists
• Society for the Study of Social Problems