Xavier Sivels

Xavier Sivels, last summer’s Study the South Fellow, joins us as an instructor in Southern Studies. He earned his BA in history and philosophy from Virginia State University and a doctorate in history from Mississippi State University. His dissertation is “Freakish Man: Sexual Blues, Sacred Beliefs, and the Transformation of Black Queer Identity, 1870-1957,” which he spoke about at a SouthTalk last spring titled “‘Ain’t I Pretty?’: Sweet Daddy Grace and the Sacred Blues of the Badman.” Previously, Sivels was an instructor of early U.S. history, Mississippi history, early world history, and African American history at Mississippi State University.

He was also an advanced doctoral fellow at The Center for Black, Brown, and Queer Studies, and he received the Society of Mississippi Archivists Distinguished Student Presentation Award in 2022.