Graduate Student Research Assistant Erleen is a scholar of Black women’s labor history, US social welfare and care organizing, and global studies. She received departmental honors at UNO for their MA work in African-American History by aiding in the curation of the “Don’t Stand Alone: Black Labor Organizing in New Orleans” public history exhibit. They have presented at conferences such as the Association of Black Women Historians, Labor and Working Class Historians Association, Southern Labor Studies Association, and Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Pursuing the doctoral degree in History at UGA will facilitate continued research surrounding their MA thesis titled “Rest if you must, but don’t quit”: Black Women’s work and welfare in the New Orleans Welfare Rights Organization, 1970s-1990s. Erleen aims to fully flesh out connections between labor organizing and social mobilization for Black and Brown women in the southern United States in the context of the global oppression of subaltern labor. Research Research Areas: African American Labor History U.S. South World History Capitalism and Economics Research Interests: Black women's labor organizing outside of rank-and-file around welfare rights Anti-poverty organizing Care Work Organizing U.S. late- 20th century Black Power Transnational organizing Education Education: M.A. University of New Orleans 2025 B.A. Chatham University 2023
