Tiyi Morris is Associate Professor of African American and African Studies at The Ohio State University at Newark and a co-founder/co-director of OPEEP, The Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project. She is a civil rights historian who studies Black women’s social and political activism. She received her B.A. in African & African American Studies and Liberal Studies from Emory University, and a Master’s and Ph.D. in American Studies from Purdue University. Dr. Morris currently serves on the Board of WeRISE for Greater Westerville and has also previously served on the Board of Women Have Options, Ohio’s statewide abortion fund.
Dr. Morris' research and teaching combines the fields of American History, Black Studies, and Women’s Studies. With this focus, she has taught courses such as 20th century US History; Gender, Sex and Power; The Civil Rights-Black Power Movements; and Social (In)Justice and the Black Experience: An inside-Out Prison Exchange Course. Teaching in African American and African Studies, a discipline that emerged from social justice movements, her curricula underscore the need to create a more just and equitable society. Dr. Morris believes her role as an educator is to help dismantle systems of oppression by liberating the minds of students and empowering them to challenge the oppressions they face and/or perpetuate. She would like to see a world where people are no longer confined by the patriarchal, capitalist, racist, heterosexist ideologies that stifle our humanity and potential. Her goal is to educate, unify, inspire, and empower.