Derrick R. Spires serves as Associate Professor of English in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Delaware, specializing in early Black print culture, citizenship studies, and African American intellectual history. His scholarly mission centers on recovering the rich imaginative worlds African-descended people generated through print media and how these imaginings facilitated material change, spanning from tragicomic expressions to mundane daily practices. Spires' research interrogates how Black writers articulated expansive, practice-based theories of citizenship through robust print networks including newspapers, the Colored Conventions movement, and ephemeral publications. His work reveals the centrality of seriality, pseudonymity, and collaborative performance in Black political thought, demonstrating how print culture enabled Black communities to navigate and reshape citizenship frameworks despite systemic exclusion. He examines how early African American literature cultivated aesthetic sensibilities that sustained resistance and community building. Analysis of his 2016-2024 publications reveals consistent thematic threads: the material conditions of Black bibliography, gendered dimensions of political expression, and the performance aspects of print culture. His scholarship increasingly engages with digital humanities methodologies while maintaining deep archival rigor, particularly regarding Dorothy Porter's bibliographic mission and liberation bibliography frameworks. Key publications map connections between early Black social media practices and contemporary digital activism. Spires' accolades include: Modern Language Association Prize for First Book (2020) St. Louis Mercantile Library Prize (2020) National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Ford Foundation Fellowship Social Science Research Council Fellowship Mellon/Mays Initiatives Fellowship American Antiquarian Society Fellowship His editorial leadership encompasses the Broadview Anthology of American Literature and the University of Pennsylvania Press series 'Black Print and Organizing in the Long Nineteenth Century.' Research has been supported by major fellowships examining Black print networks, though specific grant details beyond institutional fellowships aren't specified. Spires contributes significantly to recovering marginalized intellectual traditions through meticulous bibliographic work and theoretical innovation in citizenship studies.
