Jordan Ross is a joint Ph.D. student in the Department of History and the Graduate School of Education. His research centers on the history of African American education, texts, and archives from the 19th and early 20th centuries. As an emerging scholar, Jordan positions himself within the fields of African American History of Education, Black Print Culture, Public History, and Digital Humanities.
Before coming to Penn, Jordan studied the history of HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) as a graduate student at the University of Michigan. In 2024, Jordan was awarded the David Ruggles Grand Prize and became a Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress.
Advisors: Jonathan Zimmerman and William Sturkey
B.A., Morehouse College ('18)
M.A., University of Michigan ('21)
History of Education; African American History; Public History; Black Print Culture; Digital Humanities; #Black DH
Education, Culture, and Society - Teaching Assistant (Fall 2024 - Spring 2025)
Digital Humanities Projects:
Ross. Jordan. Deanna McCray James. Researching Race Textbooks in the 1900 Paris Exposition -- Mapping the Stories: The Legacy of Daniel A. P. Murray (Washington D.C.; Library of Congress, 2025). https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bcc407698e7c4cce84cecc82edc47fe9.
Ross. Jordan. The Historic Evolution of Black Adult Education (Atlanta, GA; United Negro College Fund, 2022). https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/26d07961ff3b4a1ab9629231bb7ec07e.
Blogs:
Ross. Jordan. “The Mystery of the Robert Purvis Library of Anti-Slavery Literature,” Unique at Penn (blog) November 11, 2024. https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/2024/11/11/the-mystery-of-the-robert-purvis-library-of-anti-slavery-literature/
Ross. Jordan. “William Crogman’s Daring “Race Textbook” of 1898,” Library of Congress Blogs (blog) July 31, 2024. https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2024/07/william-crogmans-daring-race-textbook-of-1898/.
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education - Education, Culture, and Society Program
The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)
The History of Education Society (HES)
The National Council on Public History (NCPH)