Cassandra Newby-Alexander

Cassandra Newby-Alexander is the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, professor of history, and director of the Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center for African Diaspora Studies at Norfolk State University. Dr. Newby-Alexander has received numerous awards and commendations including the William M.E. Rachal Award for best overall article for 2018 on Sarah Garland Jones in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the Distinguished Service Sward on behalf of the 400 Years of African American History Commission, the Juneteenth organization’s “Junnie” Award for Outstanding Historical Research, and the 2019 Humanitarian Award from the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.

Her book publications include Virginia Waterways and the Underground Railroad (2017), An African American History of the Civil War in Hampton Roads (2010), co-authored Black America Series: Portsmouth (2003), Hampton Roads: Remembering Our Schools (2009), and co-edited Voices from within the Veil: African Americans and the Experience of Democracy (2008).

In addition, Dr. Newby-Alexander has published numerous articles including “Vivian Carter Mason: Securing Civil Rights in Norfolk, Virginia, 1943-1982,” Dr. Sarah Garland Jones: Beyond Race and Gender in late 19th Virginia,” “Vivian Carter Mason: The Community Feminist,” "In Search of the 'Twenty and Odd': Reclaiming the Humanity of America's First Africans in the Virginia Colony" in Engaging the African Diaspora in K-12 Education; and “Laura E. Davis Titus: Feminine Leadership in Freedom’s First Generation” in Women Claiming Freedom: Gender, Race, and Liberty in the Americas. Her upcoming article is “Hampton Roads and Norfolk, Virginia as a Way-Point and Gateway for Enslaved Persons Seeking Freedom” in Sailing to Freedom: Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad.

Newby-Alexander has received grants totaling over $800,000. In addition to her grant and scholarly activities, Newby-Alexander was the co-chair of the Virginia Commission on African American History Education in the Commonwealth, an important special Commission established by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. She also serves on numerous boards including the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Virginia Law Foundation, the 2019 Commemoration Commission, Historical Commission of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Norfolk Sister City Association, and WHRO: a PBS-Affiliate.

Dr. Newby-Alexander has also appeared on a number of national programs, including the BBC series, “The British role in America’s Tainted Past,” C-SPAN on the 2019 African Landing Day program at Fort Monroe (August 2019); C-SPAN’s broadcast of the Library of Congress Kluge Center’s Symposium on 1619's Cultural Exchange (February 2018); Talk of the Nation (in 1998); and The History Channel’s broadcast of Tavis Smiley Presents the “State of the Black Union 2007: Jamestown, The African American Imprint on America.” Other programs include the History Channel documentary on Race, Slavery and the Civil War, and on C-SPAN when it filmed the 2010 Virginia Sesquicentennial Conference at NSU entitled, “Race, Slavery, and the Civil War: The Tough Stuff of American History.”

Dr. Newby-Alexander has served as an historical consultant for numerous agencies and initiatives, including Determined: The 400-Year Struggle for Black Equality exhibition in early

October 2018 with the Virginia Museum of History and Culture; “Lynching in Virginia” and “King in Virginia” subcommittees for the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Commission; and Forgotten Soldier exhibition with the Jamestown Settlement Museum the American Civil War Museum. She has also consulted with the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe, Hampton History Museum, Virginia Humanities, Portsmouth Museums, Obsidian Productions LLC for the Moton Museum, and the Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program.