Professor, Historian, and Peacebuilder
Bio
Charles Chavis, Jr., Ph.D is the Founding Director of the John Mitchell, Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race at George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, where he is also an Assistant Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution and History.
Dr. Chavis is a historian and museum educator whose work focuses on the history of racial violence and civil rights activism and Black and Jewish relations in the American South, and the ways in which the historical understandings of racial violence and civil rights activism can inform current and future approaches to peacebuilding and conflict resolution throughout the world.
He is editor of For the Sake of Peace: Africana Perspectives on Racism, Justice, and Peace in America (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).
His latest book, The Silent Shore: The Lynching of Matthew Williams and the Politics of Racism in the Free State (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020) was released in January 2022.
Praise for The Silent Shore:
Publications
“Rabbi Edward L. Israel: The Making of a Progressive Interracialist, 1923–1941,” Southern Jewish History, 21 (Spring, 2019). View PDF
“Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in Maryland: From Narrative Change to Racial Healing,” Building an Architecture of Peace-building in America, Doug Irvin-Erickson and Emily Sample, eds. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020). View PDF
Introduction to For the Sake of Peace: Africana Perspectives on Racism, Justice, and Peace in America. Co-edited with Sixte Vigny Nimuraba. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020). View PDF
Activism & Policy Leadership
Paix Heritage Associates, LLC
Dr. Chavis founded Paix to provide historical research, writing, and strategic consulting to organizations, communities and historic sites
John Mitchell, Jr. Program at GMU
Dr. Chavis is the Founding Director of the John Mitchell, Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race at George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution
The Archives for Racial and Cultural Healing
The U.S. Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Movement
The US TRHT has been raising support for House Con.Res. 100 introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee and cultivating bipartisan support for the healing agenda with its nationwide network of actors.
#BREATHEWITHME
#BREATHEWITHME is a call for a U.S. Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Commission leading to Reparations.
Hidden in Full View Series
Hidden in Full View tells the true stories of racial terror and oppression hidden in plain sight in an ongoing series of documentary shorts.
Get in touch:
Speaker Requests
Please provide me some preliminary details at this page→
Thank you in advance!
Media Inquiries for The Silent Shore
skumar31@gmu.edu
Inquiries on For the Sake of Peace
Please contact Dhara Snowden at Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group:
dsnowden@rowman.com
Inquiries for the John Mitchell, Jr. Program
Please contact Gbenga Dasylva at George Mason University:
odasylva@masonlive.gmu.edu
or visit jmjp.gmu.edu
Inquiries for U.S. Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation
Please contact ustrht@gmail.com