Images: Vassar College
A Publication of the ALANA Center
Spotlight with Quincy Mills, Assistant Professor of History
By Angelic X. Sosa ‘08
Quincy Mills earned his B.S from the University of Illinois at Urbana (1997), his M.B.A. from DePaul University (2004), and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (2006). His research focuses on African American urban and business history, race and segregation, and social and political movements. He recently completed his dissertation "'Color-Line' Barbers and the Emergence of a Black Public Space: A Social and Political History of Black Barbers and Barber Shops, 1850-1970."
What inspired you to become a teacher?
I was a business major undergrad, headed for corporate America. It wasn’t until I took an independent study project with a history professor that I understood the work of history; the research, the analysis, and in many ways the joys of studying history. This professor opened my eyes and this peaked my interest in history as a career.
What brought you here to Vassar?
I was interested in the workings of a liberal arts institution. There are interesting moments to make
wonderful transformations in the student body of a liberal arts institution because of its closeness and its intimacy between the faculty and students. I was attracted to the engagement of the faculty in History and Africana Studies. So, the excitement to sort of make a contribution in my department and the larger Vassar community but also the larger Poughkeepsie community really attracted me to this place.
What do you think are the benefits of a diverse student body?
[This is] a question that is continually asked – what’s the benefit of a diverse student body? It is one of those obvious questions used to justify the need to diversify the student body, that somehow it needs to be justified as opposed to it being a given. It is a fundamental part of the world and a fundamental part of the country and Vassar.
What do you hope to bring to the lives of your students at Vassar?
A sense of intellectual aggressiveness and intellectual commitment to the production of knowledge. I want my students to leave my classes knowing how to ask the right questions, asking a lot of questions, and really staying inside of their heads. One of the great advantages students and professors have in the world of academia, is that thinking is what we do. I hope that my students really use what they learn in and outside of my classes to create some kind of change, whatever it is, so that they’re both active learners and active citizens and not passive intellectual consumers.
What do you think is important to keep in mind as a person of color in the world today?
That it’s okay to think outside of the dominant paradigm, that your individual actions are the only thing that you need to be concerned with - that indeed it is much more fruitful and rewarding to think of what you do and how you do it in a more collective context.
What do you enjoy most about working with students and your position here?
The ‘ah-ha’ moment - which is the moment when students get it. It’s the moment when students see insights in the text that completely alters the way that they thought about a given idea or concept or movement. Those are the joys of teaching. Those are the joys of interacting with students; and the hunger for more; that’s the ticket!
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