Shelley P. Haley is the Edward North Chair of

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and Professor of

Africana studies Black studies or Africana studies (with nationally specific terms, such as African American studies and Black Canadian studies), is an interdisciplinary academic field that primarily focuses on the study of the history, culture, and politics of ...

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

, New York, and (in 2021) President of the

Society for Classical Studies The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA), is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the pree ...

. Haley applies Black feminist and critical race approaches to the study and teaching of classics.

Education

Haley graduated with a BA from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

in 1972. She was awarded a Danforth fellowship for graduate study and completed her MA (1975) and Ph.D. (1977) at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. Her PhD thesis was titled ''The Role of Amicitia in the Life of

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Rom ...

''.

Career

After graduating, she taught at Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) from 1977 until 1978, and subsequently

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

(Washington, D.C.) from 1979 to 1985. She was appointed to the faculty at Hamilton College in 1989. She has also held appointments at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

('Distinguished Visiting Scholar', 2002); and

Hobart and William Smith Colleges Hobart and William Smith Colleges is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Geneva, New York. They trace their origins to Geneva Academy established in 1797. Students can choose from ove ...

('Melvin Hill Visiting Scholar-in-Residence', 2013). Haley employs Black feminist and critical race approaches to Classics, and has worked on a wide range of topics including gender in the ancient world; Latin, Greek, and comparative literature; race in classical pedagogy; and the role of African-American women (in particular Fanny Jackson Coppin) in Classics. She has described the difficulties of her early career and the process by which she became interested in race in the classical world through teaching students about

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

and researching 19th-century African-American classicists. Haley participated in the Oxford Round Table in 2003; she has served a four-year term as chief reader for the AP Latin Exam, and has chaired the AP Latin Exam Development Committee. Haley has also appeared as an expert on Roman History and

in the media including

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

's ''Rome: Power and Glory'' (1999), Timewatch's ''In Search of Cleopatra'', and Netflix's ''

African Queens ''African Queens'' is the fourth studio album recorded by American female vocal trio the Ritchie Family, released in 1977 on the Marlin label. History The album features the track, " Quiet Village", which peaked at No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Disco ...

'' season 2 episode on Cleopatra. Haley's assertion in the documentary that her grandmother told her that Cleopatra was black was criticized, though she also stated that "We don't know her exact racial heritage." Despite her claims, the ethnicity of Cleopatra has been well-studied through history and the consensus is that she was of Macedonian Greek ancestry; the debates regarding her ethnicity haven't taken place in academic circles or sources, being instead mentioned in entertainment and lifestyle magazines such as

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

; and an article about

Afrocentrism Afrocentrism is a worldview that is centered on the history of people of African descent or a view that favors it over non-African civilizations. It is in some respects a response to Eurocentric attitudes about African people and their hist ...

from the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...

'' in 1994 mentions the question, too, despite lacking evidence for the claim.Mona Charen, Haley was a founding member of The Kirkland Project for the Study of Gender, Culture, and Society; the Institute for Global African Studies (IGAS); and the Multiculturalism, Race, and Ethnicity in Classics Consortium (MRECC). In September 2019, Haley was elected President of the

for 2021, making her the Society's first African-American President.

Distinctions and awards

Haley has been awarded several distinctions for her excellence in teaching and research. These include: * Excellence in Teaching of the Classics at College Level Award,

, 2017 * The Samuel and Helen Long Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Hamilton College, 2015 * Merit Award,

American Classical League Founded in 1919, the American Classical League (ACL) is a professional organization which promotes the study of classical civilization at all levels of education in the United States and Canada. Teachers of Latin, Ancient Greek and the Clas ...

, 2007 * Certificate of Recognition,

The College Board The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...

, 2007 * Outstanding Woman of the Year Award in the Field of Education,

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

of the Mohawk Valley, 1999 * The Pentagon Outstanding Service Award, Hamilton College, 1997 In 2020, ''The Haley Classical Journal'' was founded in her honor.

Selected publications and lectures

Haley has published and presented widely on Cleopatra, Black Feminist Pedagogy, and the impact of a classical education on African-American women. Recent examples of her work include: * "When I Enter: Disrupting the White, Heteronormative Narrative of Librarianship". Co-authored with Caitlin Pollock. ''Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS'', eds. Rose L. Chou & Anna Pho. Sacramento: Litwin Books and Library Juice Press, 2018. * "Re-presenting Reality: Provincial Women As Tools of Roman Social Reproduction". Women's Classical Caucus Panel, "Provincial Women in the Roman Imagination". American Philological Association, Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL., January 2–5, 2014. * "Scientific Racism". Co-authored with Dr. Michele Paludi. ''Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology'', York, England: Springer Reference, December 2012. * "Be Not Afraid of the Dark: Critical Race Theory and Classical Studies". ''Prejudice and Christian Beginnings: Investigating Race, Gender and Ethnicity in Early Christian Studies'', eds. Laura Nasrallah and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, 4 Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2009: 27–50. * "Lucian's 'Leaena and Clonarium': Voyeurism or a Challenge to Assumptions?". ''Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World'', eds. Nancy S. Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger, Austin, Texas: The University of Texas Press, 2002: 286–303. * " Fanny Jackson Coppin's ''Reminiscences of a School Life and Hints on Teaching''". ''African American Women Writers Series, 1910–1940'', Volume 8, ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., New York: G. K. Hall/Macmillan 1995. * "Self-definition, community and resistance: Euripides' ''Medea'' and Toni Morrison's ''Beloved''". ''Thamyris: mythmaking from past to present'', Vol. 2, No. 2 (1995): 177–206. * "Black Feminist Thought and Classics: Re-membering, Re-claiming, Re-empowering". ''Feminist Theory and the Classics'', eds. by

Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz is a classical scholar, specialising in ancient Greek literature and Intersectionality, intersectional feminism. Career Sorkin Rabinowitz graduated from City College of New York and received her Ph.D. from University of Ch ...

Amy Richlin Amy Ellen Richlin (born December 12, 1951) is a professor in the Department of Classics at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Her areas of specialization include Latin literature, the history of sexuality, and feminist theory. Ear ...

, New York & Oxford: Routledge, 1993. * "Livy, passion, and cultural stereotypes". ''Historia: Zeitschrift fur Alte Geschichte'' (1990): 375–381. * "The Five Wives of Pompey the Great". ''Greece and Rome'' 32, no. 1 (1985): 49–59. * "Archias, Theophanes, and Cicero: The Politics of the ''Pro Archia''". ''The Classical Bulletin'' 59, 1983: 1–4.

References

External links

Shelley Haley's faculty page, Hamilton College
* Society for Classical Studies interviews with Shelley Haley
Part 1
an
Part 2
*YouTube video of a lecture given by Shelley Haley at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, entitled
Surely in many ways I hold different views from others': racialized gender in ancient Hellenic and Roman societies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haley, Shelley American women classical scholars Living people Historians of ancient Rome Scholars of ancient Greek history Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics African-American women academics 21st-century African-American women Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences alumni University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Luther College (Iowa) faculty Howard University faculty Washington University in St. Louis faculty Hobart and William Smith Colleges faculty Hamilton College (New York) faculty American classical scholars