Dr. Shannen Dee Williams is associate professor of history at the University of Dayton and an award-winning scholar of African American, religious and women’s history. Her research examines the intersections of race, religion and social justice in the United States.
Shannen is the author of Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle, which was recognized as one of the top religion books of 2022 by Publishers Weekly and received major awards from the Association of Black Women Historians and the American Historical Association. Her work has helped transform understanding of Black Catholic history and the role of Black women religious in the struggle for freedom and equality.
A Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians, Shannen was the first Black woman elected to the Executive Council of the American Catholic Historical Association. She is also a co-founder of the Fleming-Morrow Endowment in African American History and has helped establish initiatives advancing the study of Black Catholic history and the African American experience.
