• Could you introduce yourself and share a bit about your background?

Dr. Kristopher Bryan Burrell: Thank you for having me! I’m Kristopher Bryan Burrell, an Associate Professor of History at Hostos Community College, where I’ve been teaching for over 14 years. My academic focus is on the African American Black freedom struggle, primarily in New York City, as well as the broader history of Black civil rights.

I was born and raised in Harlem, very close to where I teach now in the South Bronx; so, it is great to still be here at home. It’s incredibly fulfilling to teach students from neighborhoods like the one I grew up in. 

• That connection is wonderful. How did your personal and professional journey lead you to academia?

Dr. Burrell: My journey into academia was shaped by my early love of history and influential teachers I had along the way. It all started in elementary school when I was introduced to Eyes on the Prize, a documentary series about the Civil Rights Movement. Seeing those images and hearing the stories of that era left a deep impression on me. I was both fascinated and terrified, and it sparked an enduring curiosity about history.

In high school, I attended Central Park East Secondary School, an alternative public school in New York City. The school’s progressive approach to education emphasized critical thinking, interdisciplinary learning, and depth of study over rote memorization. I was able to take unique, specialized courses, such as the history of modern South Africa and the Vietnam War, taught by teachers with personal and cultural connections to the subjects.

By the time I graduated, I was certain I would major in history. At Claremont McKenna College, I double majored in History and Black Studies. The Black Studies program was interdisciplinary and involved taking courses across the Claremont Colleges consortium, where I studied topics ranging from Black psychology to African diasporic history. This broad and critical foundation shaped my intellectual path and informed my decision to pursue a Ph.D.

Although I initially resisted the stereotype that history majors only become teachers, I eventually recognized my passion for teaching. Growing up, I had wonderful teachers who inspired me, and through experiences like tutoring and coaching tennis, I realized I had a knack for helping others learn. I chose college-level teaching because I loved the conversations I had with my professors and peers as a student. I thought it would be great to be able to be in this kind of rich stimulative environment for as long as possible.

• Can you share more about your research and how it evolved over the years?

Dr. Burrell:  My research focuses on the Civil Rights Movement, particularly its manifestations outside the South. Most studies emphasize the Southern struggle, but my work examines New York City between 1954 and 1965, a period often referred to as the “classical” civil rights era.

When I began my doctoral studies, I was equally interested in the Reconstruction Era and the Civil Rights Movement, but I ultimately chose the latter. My dissertation focused on some of the ideological contentions and it’s kind of an intellectual history of the civil rights movement in New York. 

The next major published piece that came out was a chapter in an edited collection Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North, a collection examining civil rights struggles in the Northern and Western states. That project grew out of a 2015 seminar sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and led by Professor Jeanne Theoharis (Brooklyn College) and Komozi Woodard, where I connected with scholars across the country and received invaluable feedback on my work. That experience was revelatory for me, and it was the first time that I really began to feel like a scholar in the field. It was one of the first times, if not the first time, where people valued my opinions about their work and even sought them out in some instances. The chapter I wrote was about the efforts of Ella Baker and Mae Mallory, whose activism in desegregating New York City schools was transformative. It was very directly connected to those conversations to begin thinking about the movement in more national terms; how does looking at the North change our understanding of how Jim Crow and racial segregation operated in the United States. 

In another essay for Public Seminar, I challenged the idea that Black activists’ demands for liberation should be tempered by political pragmatism. I argued that protest is one of the most patriotic acts, as it pushes America to live up to its democratic ideals. This essay inspired my forthcoming chapter in a co-edited volume about the historical relationship of African Americans to US democracy. My chapter focuses on the need to redefine patriotism, making the argument that protest is one of the most patriotic things that can be done and that often the people who are at the vanguard trying to make the United States live up to its ideals have been African American activists. Further, I argue that history with protest at the center of it needs to be taught in our public schools. It is especially important in our political moment in which conservatives have been doing everything they can to erode multicultural education, and to erode talk about the hard truths of U.S. history, and worse, putting forth a Christian nationalist narrative of U.S. history and trying to mandate that for everyone else. In this particular political moment, it is much more important that we do not allow patriotism to be defined in these narrow, ahistorical, largely white supremacist, heteronormative terms. To illustrate this, I used a few biographical snapshots of a black legislator from the Reconstruction Era, as well as two black female activists from the Civil Rights Era, Fannie Lou Hamer and Septima Clark. These names are not unfamiliar to a number of people, but it is still important to situate them within this particular context and make clear that these are the real patriots. These are the people who were making American democracy. Hopefully, this chapter will be coming out early next year (2025) with University of Florida press. 

More recently, I have been thinking about the central question of the Carnegie Foundation’s grant funding programs: how can we lessen political polarization in the United States? My basic premise is that what has helped to lessen political polarization over time has been the greater inclusion of more people and groups into the body politic. As we change the relationship between the state and the people, and make it illegal to discriminate against certain groups, this leads to cultural norm changes over time and we can experience periods of less political polarization. As we see those rights eroded, we see political polarization increase once again. My thoughts have evolved into an idea of essentially trying to write a narrative of U.S. history with social movement activism at the center. That movements disrupted society for the purposes of increasing democratic participation, the disruption that they created led to state and federal legislation that again included more people within the body politic. So, a successful movement over time decreases political polarization. But, as we are now seeing, and as we have seen at different points in our history, when rights are eroded and taken away from groups, whether in spirit or in law, we see increasing political polarization. So, it is not about the absence of social tension, it is about the reasons for the creation of that tension. You can create tension for the purposes of increasing democracy. 

• Let’s talk about your teaching. How does your philosophy shape your approach in the classroom?

Dr. Burrell: My teaching philosophy centers on making history relevant and empowering for my students. I see history as a tool for understanding and improving the present, not just a collection of facts. I want my students to develop critical thinking skills, ask meaningful questions, and connect historical events to today’s challenges. 

Beyond the classroom, I’ve contributed to research on online learning at Hostos. My colleagues and I conducted surveys to understand student and faculty perceptions of online education. We found that when designed thoughtfully, online courses are just as effective as in-person ones. Sharing this research helped dispel myths and improve online learning practices at the college.

• You’re involved in the Humanities Alliance. Can you tell us more about that experience?

Dr. Burrell: The Humanities Alliance has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my career. As Faculty Coordinator, I mentor Graduate Fellows and help them connect their academic interests to meaningful projects at Hostos. I have tried to structure the program experience for the Fellows with professional development being my highest priority and giving the fellows as comprehensive a sense of how the college works as possible. I have been trying to provide a space where the Fellows can connect their research and pedagogical interests from outside with their HA experience. That required discarding a lot of preconceptions about what I thought I would be doing, trying as best I could to listen to the Fellows, what their interests are and what their goals are, and just seeing how I could best facilitate everyone having a beneficial experience. What that has included is bringing in faculty, staff ,and administrators from various divisions of the college to speak with the fellows about what it is they do and how they are connected to the college more broadly. It has also meant talking candidly about my personal experiences as a teacher, as a scholar, and as a supervisor in some contexts. And it has meant mentoring in a different way trying to help Fellows navigate some potentially sticky situations whether within their departments at the Graduate Center or within their work. One memorable moment was when a fellow shared her struggles with a disengaged class. Instead of following our planned agenda, we spent the meeting brainstorming strategies and discussing the challenges of teaching. It was a candid and supportive conversation, and it reminded me of the value of mentorship and collaboration. Moments like that make the work incredibly rewarding.

This interview was conducted by Mehrnaz Moghaddam.