Sarah Trembath

Sarah Trembath is a Professor at American University, serving as the 2025-2026 interim executive director for the AntiRacist Research and Policy Center. Faculty since 2014, she teaches literature, writing, and complex problem seminars with a decolonial framework, emphasizing criticality beyond K-12 educational limitations.

Her educational background includes an EDD in Education Policy and Leadership from American University, an MA from Howard University, and a BA from Temple University.

Dr. Trembath's research centers on critical pedagogy, decolonial studies, and the intersection of Black literature with social justice. She investigates how "post-truth" discourse and anti-CRT/book banning movements suppress critical thinking, advocating for the pluriverse concept where multiple worldviews coexist. Her work integrates the Sankofa ethic, rhetoric, propaganda analysis, and racial bias in textual interpretation to foster expansive worldviews.

Her publications bridge creative expression with critical race scholarship, using poetry and creative nonfiction to examine racism, information literacy, and DC's cultural history. The 2025 work "This Past Was Waiting for Me" and 2019 poetry collection "It Was the Scarlet that Did It" exemplify this fusion of literary art and social commentary.

Key recognition includes:

• 2019 Gloria Anzaldúa Award from the American Studies Association for social justice teaching and writing

As an educator, Dr. Trembath develops students' critical thinking through writing pedagogy. She co-founded the Critical Information Literacy Committee and spearheaded the university's AntiRacist Subject Guide. Her current Humanities Truck project "Chocolate City Speaks" with librarian Derrick Jefferson documents 1990s DC Hip Hop culture through oral histories of emcees and spoken word artists.

She actively translates academic research for public discourse through her "Critical Reader" column in the Washington Independent Review of Books and contributions to literary journals, focusing on accessible analysis of criticality, racial justice, and Black literary traditions.