Valerie Sweeney Prince

Valerie Sweeney Prince is a Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Wayne State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan, with prior roles including Director of Black Studies at Allegheny College, Avalon Professor of Humanities at Hampton University, and fellowships at Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Center and the University of Virginia’s Carter G. Woodson Institute. Her research integrates literature, history, and performance to explore themes like African American women’s experiences, domestic labor, and racialized social structures.

Prince’s work emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, blending poetry, drama, and scholarly critique. Her recent publications include *Kin: Practically True Stories* (2024), which combines fiction and memoir, and *Crazy as Hell: The Best Little Guide to Black History* (2024). Her current project, *Laundry: How Dirt, Water, and Cleaning Clothes Became the Real Work of America*, examines laundry’s societal impact through race, gender, and ecological lenses. Courses taught include African-American Literature surveys and specialized classes on Black women writers.

Awards include the 2025 Next Generation Indie Book Award for *Kin* and a Carol Shields Prize longlisting. Her research highlights intersections of labor, identity, and cultural memory, reflected in both academic and creative outputs.