Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander, Ph.D.
Through her research, writings, presentations and media appearances, Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander brings to the forefront the history and contributions of Black people that have often been forgotten, erased or hidden. She fights to help ensure that history is told fully and equitably.
She is the Endowed Professor of Virginia Black History and Culture and the former Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Norfolk State University. She is the author of over 40 books, articles, and other publications, including Daily Life Along the Underground Railroad (2026), Virginia Waterways and the Underground Railroad (2017) and An African American History of the Civil War in Hampton Roads (2010).
Newby-Alexander has received grants totaling over $1.5 million. She serves as the co-chair of Norfolk’s VA250 Committee, a commissioner on the Commission to Study the History of the Uprooting of Black Communities by Public Institutions of Higher Education in the Commonwealth, and a board member on the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Portsmouth’s VA250 Committee, and Norfolk Fest Events. She previously served as co-chair of the Virginia Commission on African American History Education, the Virginia Commission to Study Slavery and Subsequent De Jure and De Facto Racial and Economic Discrimination Against African Americans, the University of Virginia Press Board, the Virginia Law Foundation, and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
Newby-Alexander has appeared on numerous programs including NBC’s Nightly News on the descendants of slaveholders, PBS’s Many Rivers to Cross, eight programs on C-SPAN including its Lectures in History, the History Channel’s Race, Slavery and the Civil War, BBC News’ “The British Role in America’s Tainted Past,” and Clay Jenkinson’s “Listening to America” podcast for the 2024 episode on the Underground Railroad and the June 2025 episode on race relations in America.