Elijah Gaddis (ejgaddis@auburn.edu) is co-founder and co-director of the CHW and the Hollifield Associate Professor of Southern History and African American Studies at Auburn University. He also co-directs Auburn’s graduate program in public history. A working public historian for nearly two decades, Elijah has produced exhibits, led oral history projects, and collaborated on a variety of community history projects across the South. He played a lead role in Digital Loray, particularly the building of its online archive and other exhibits. Since 2015, he has worked with CHW co-founder Seth Kotch on Red Record, which documents lynching in North Carolina.
In addition to his work as a public historian, Elijah writes and publishes widel on African American material culture and landscapes. His first book, Gruesome Looking Objects: A New History of Lynching and Everyday Things was published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.
