Lorelle D. Semley

Lorelle D. Semley was born in 1969. She completed her B.S. in French at Georgetown University’s School of Languages and Linguistics in 1991. Her academic journey continued at Yale University, where she earned an M.A. in African Studies in 1995. Semley further advanced her education at Northwestern University, receiving an M.A. in 1996 and a Ph.D. in History in 2002. Her dissertation was titled ‘Kétu Identities: Islam, Gender, and French Colonialism in West Africa, 1850s-1960s’.

Semley began her professional career as an assistant professor in the history department at Wesleyan University, a position she held from 2003 to 2011. During this period, she also served as the chair of the African studies cluster from 2008 to 2010. In 2011, she joined the faculty of the College of the Holy Cross as a professor in the history department. Her teaching encompassed Africana studies, peace and conflict studies, and gender, sexuality, and women’s studies. In 2023, Semley transitioned to Boston College, where she now serves as the director of the African and African Diaspora Studies program.

Her research focuses on West Africa and the Atlantic world, with particular attention to race, gender, legal history, urban history, and Black French Studies. Her current book project investigates the history of African and Caribbean communities in Bordeaux, France, spanning the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. Her work has received support from organizations such as the National Endowment of the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies. In 2020, Semley became Editor-in-chief of ‘History in Africa’, a prominent journal of the African Studies Association, and she also serves as an Associate Review Editor for the American Historical Review.