A lead­ing schol­ar of Amer­i­can cul­tur­al his­to­ry, Lau­ren Rebec­ca Sklaroff is an asso­ciate pro­fes­sor of his­to­ry at the Uni­ver­si­ty of South Car­oli­na. She is the author of Black Cul­ture and the New Deal: The Quest for Civ­il Rights in the Roo­sevelt Era and the recip­i­ent of an NEH pub­lic schol­ars fellowship.