Larissa Smith Fergeson is an associate professor of history at Longwood University, where she teaches classes in U.S. history, African American history and Virginia history.  She has published articles on civil rights and labor activists in Virginia, and she is currently at work on a book manuscript, Where the South Begins: Civil Rights Struggles in Virginia, 1930-1960.  She has been involved as a consultant for public history projects, such as the Robert Russa Moton Museum in Farmville and other sites on the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail (CREHT). Her awards include a fellowship from the Virginia Foundation for Humanities and Longwood University’s Maria Bristow Starke Award.