Elwood Watson Ph.D. is a Professor of History, Gender Studies and African American Studies at East Tennessee State University. He is the author of two books, Outsiders Within: Black Women in the Legal Academy After Brown v. Board (Rowman and Littlefield) and Understanding The Humanities (Kendall Hunt, 2014). He is the author of the forthcoming books Race in America: Critical Essays (University of Chicago Press, 2019) and Today’s Man: essays on 21^st Cetury Masculinity (Connection Victory Publishers, 2019). His edited collections include Performing American Masculinities: The 21^st Century Man in Popular Culture (Indiana University Press,2011) Pimps, Wimps, Studs: Thugs and Gentlemen: Essays on Media Images of Masculinity (McFarland, 2009), The Oprah Phenomenon (University Press of Kentucky, 2007), Searching the Soul of Ally McBeal: Critical Essays (McFarland, 2006), and There She Is, Miss America: The Politics of Sex, Beauty and Race in America’s Most Famous Pageant (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Mentoring Faculty of Color: Essays on Professional Development and Advancement in Colleges and Universities (McFarland , 2012) Generation X Professors Speak: Voices From Academia (Scarecrow Press, 2013), Overcoming Adversity in Academia:Stories From Generation X Professors,(University Press of America, 2014 and Beginning a Career in Academia: A Guide For Graduate Students of Color (Routledge Press, 2015). HBO Girls: The Awkward Politics of Gender, Race and Privilege (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015) and Violence Against Black Bodies: An Intersectional Analysis of How Black Lives Continue to Matter (Routledge Press, 2017). He is currently working on a monograph that examines men who are members of Generation X (1965-1980). He was the guest editor for a special issue of Masculinity in the 21^st Century. Interactions: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (Spring 2016)

He has published numerous articles about race, gender, higher education, popular culture and American culture in national newspapers and magazines and is a blogger for Diverse Education, Huffington Post, The Good Men Project, X/Y Online, The Black Past.org, Medium.com, New York Times, The North Star, Seattle Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, US News and World Report and other publications.