Introducing Jade Marcum, Our 2026-27 Anne Firor Scott Public Scholarship Fellow

Tell us a little about your life before Duke and the path you took to get here?

I know most people would start this answer with college, but I think my interest in going to graduate school and interest in the Civil Rights Movement began much earlier. I am originally from Montgomery, Alabama, where I graduated from Booker T. Washington Magnet High School (BTW). Since Montgomery was what many call the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, I grew up hearing a lot about it. BTW was also located near many sites important to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, as well as technically being the first public school for African Americans in the city. I spent my most formative years surrounded by this history and amazing teachers who constantly reminded us of the importance of education and how exciting learning about history could be.

With the encouragement of these teachers and my family, I went to Northwestern University in 2017. At the end of my first year, I took a Civil Rights Movement history class, thinking it would be a breeze since I was from Montgomery and grew up learning about it. In reality, I was shocked by how much I never heard before, and how much I had to learn. After that I decided I wanted to go to graduate school, and started working with the professor of that class on individual research. With his help, I applied for Northwestern’s Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, a program geared towards mentoring students towards the professoriate. Without MMUF, I likely never would have made it to graduate school, at least not when I did in 2021.

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Can you give us a brief description of your research? Why do you think it is important to research especially right now?

My dissertation is about the role of African American funeral homes in the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery. There has been some research about funeral directors and the Movement (including a book from one of our very own Duke professors!), but none on Montgomery’s Black funeral homes at that time, even though one of the most active is still in business to this day. Many Black funeral homes provided transportation during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and many of the city’s prominent Black funeral directors were also civil rights activists.

I am trying to expand our understanding of what a Civil Rights Movement activist looked like and honor Black funeral directors for their efforts securing racial equality.

I also study the stereotype of funeral directors as grifters who take advantage of mourners, where the perception came from, and how African American funeral homes fit (or don’t fit) into this narrative. At the same time, there are increasing concerns about funeral home corporations taking over small, family-owned funeral homes, which drives up the cost of dying, though conglomerates would like you to believe otherwise.

I think my research is important for two main reasons. First, I am trying to expand our understanding of what a Civil Rights Movement activist looked like and honor Black funeral directors for their efforts securing racial equality. Second, as corporations increasingly take over the death industry, our choices for death and burial are limited, often through no fault of our own. To make the most informed decision when it comes to death decisions, we must understand the reasons why Black funeral homes were created, how they have contributed to building Black community, and how the overall funeral industry works. Corporate encroachment doesn’t just threaten Black funeral businesses; it threatens the history and culture created and maintained there, too.

Jade presenting her research as an undergraduate at Northwestern

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How did you become interested in public engagement? Has your interest in public scholarship affected your dissertation or other research you’ve worked on?

I owe my initial interest in public history entirely to the professor I mentioned before, Dr. Kevin Boyle, who opened my eyes to the intricacies of the Civil Rights Movement and has been a dear mentor to me, during and after my time at NU. When working with me on my research, Dr. Boyle always stressed the need to make my research accessible and interesting to everyone, and this was a mindset he brought into the classroom while teaching us, too. I have been very lucky that everyone on my doctoral committee also shares my passion for public facing work. In fact, you can often see my current advisor, Dr. Adriane Lentz-Smith doing public work with the Ethics of Now!

Outside of my doctoral research, I recently worked with Alabama Appleseed, an organization focused on confronting racial inequality and unjust systems like mass incarceration and widespread poverty through research, policy reform, and legal services. I worked with the organization towards the end of the research process for Rocky Myers after the county appointed John E. Mays, a known lawyer for the Klan, to defend him. Myers is an African American man on death row in Alabama, and his lawyers and activists have worked tirelessly for years to get his conviction vacated. While I was unable to uncover anything new to support Myers’s case in the Ku Klux Klan archives at Duke, it reminded me of the very real consequences of the archives, both of ignoring what is there and the sometimes harmful, hard truths we can find there.

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What are your plans for public engagement during your fellowship year?

My plan is to lead a series exploring African American deathways, mourning, and funerary customs through film screenings, speakers, cemetery tours, and volunteer opportunities. While the series will focus on the African American experience of death more broadly, collaborations with Duke faculty and students, local volunteer organizations, community activists, and long-standing Black businesses will add a Durham lens to the events. I hope to bring together people to learn more about the history of death, with an ultimate goal of making people feel more comfortable thinking and talking about dying.

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What is something you have especially appreciated about Duke during your time here?

I really love our library system and everything the libraries offer access to! Honestly, the library website is one of my most visited sites, and I always recommend that undergraduate students take advantage of it. From research consultations to free access to sites like Ancestry and Newspapers to online video and music streaming, there truly is something for everyone. I am already dreading losing access to the library after I graduate!

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Header image: Frizzette D. Lee, Teacher/Business/ASC Lab. School/Lee's Funeral Home and Jule Clayton-Lewis, Business Co-Owner Ross-Clayton Funeral Home. Lee and Ross-Clayton were founding members of the Women's Political Council and thus played a key role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. From the Alabama Department of Archives and History.