Author Duchess Harris

The Laura C. Harris Series welcomes author, academic and legal scholar Duchess Harris. Harris’ book, “Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA,” tells the story of her grandmother and other black women who made it possible for John Glenn to orbit Earth in 1962.

Professor Harris is the chair of the american studies department at Macalester College. She is the author of four books. In addition to “Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA,” Harris co-authored “Black Lives Matter: with Sue Bradford Edwards. She also authored “Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton/Obama,” and published an edited volume with Bruce Baum, “Racially Writing the Republic: Racists, Race Rebels, and Transformations of American Identity.”