Bio

Dr. Koritha Mitchell is an award-winning author and cultural critic. She is an Associate Professor in the department of English at Ohio State University where she specializes in African American literature, racial violence in U.S. history and contemporary culture, and black drama and performance. Her book, Living with Lynching: African American Lynching Plays, Performance, and Citizenship, 1890-1930 (University of Illinois Press, 2011), has won awards from the American Theatre and Drama Society and from the Society for the Study of American Women Writers. Koritha’s study examines plays that African Americans performed within their communities to show that the victims of lynching were not the brutes they were portrayed to be, but honorable heads of households subjected to white violence.

Koritha is a role model and mentor to her students and offers guidance to fellow scholars to help them advance their career. She is also an avid runner and founder of the Columbus, Ohio chapter of Black Girls Run!, an organization that encourages black women to live a healthy lifestyle.

Born and raised near Houston, Texas, Koritha is the first in her family to earn a college degree. She earned her Ph.D. in English in 2005 from the University of Maryland College Park.