Kali GrossNational Endowment for the Humanities Professor of African American Studies

Kali Nicole Gross is the National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of African American Studies at Emory University. She is a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians (OAH). Her primary research explores Black women’s historical experiences in the U.S. criminal justice system, and her expertise and opinion pieces have been featured in press outlets such as TIME, The Washington Post, and BBC News. She has appeared on venues such as C-SPAN, MSNBC, and NPR.

She is an award-winning author. Her latest book, Vengeance Feminism: The Power of Black Women’s Fury in Lawless Times (Seal 2024), won the 2025 PEN Open Book Award and the 2025 ASALH Book Prize. Her residencies, fellowships, and grants include the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, the Carnegie Fellowship, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Ford Foundation, and she has been a Public Voices Fellow for The Op-Ed Project.

Her current research explores the historical experiences of Black women and capital punishment in the United States.