Who I Am

My name is Julie L. Lester. I am an Assistant Professor of African American Literature and Composition at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis, Tennessee. My dissertation engaged the work of Zora Neale Hurston and its influence on Caribbean writers of Speculative and Science Fiction, the inimitable Nalo Hopkinson, and Erna Brodber. I graduated with my Ph.D. in African American Literature from the University of Memphis in 2011 under the sage guidance of Dr. Reginald Martin, Ph.D. Being very evidently Caucasian, one of the first, and (obviously) unavoidable questions my students ask me is why I chose African American Literature as my specialty. My response is that I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. My parents, John and Willene Lester, both educators in their own rights, grew up in Neshoba County, Mississippi. As a young person, I grew up relishing the aroma of fresh cornbread and turnip greens, fried chicken, pole beans, boiled peanuts, collards, fresh corn, molasses,...