Vaughn A. Booker

Vaughn A. Booker, Ph.D., is the George E. Doty, Jr. & Lee Spelman Doty Presidential Associate Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, he was Associate Professor of African & African American Studies and Religion at Dartmouth College. He received his A.B. in Religion from Dartmouth College, his M.Div. from Harvard University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton University, with a Certificate in African American Studies.

Vaughn's research focuses on African American religious history in the twentieth century, including the ways that religion and race intersect with popular culture, gender, leadership, and politics. His first book, 'Lift Every Voice and Swing: Black Musicians and Religious Culture in the Jazz Century' (NYU Press, 2020), won the 2022 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities from the Council of Graduate Schools and was selected as a finalist for the 2021 Religion and the Arts Book Award, presented by the American Academy of Religion. Vaughn is also the recipient of prestigious fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Stanford University Humanities Center.