Biography

Dr. Ashley Robertson Preston is a tenured Associate Professor of History at Howard University and Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Dr. Preston's research interests focus on the activism of Black women during the early twentieth century particularly the work of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. She is the author of Mary McLeod Bethune in Florida: Bringing Social Justice to the Sunshine State which examines how the educator rose to prominence while fighting for equality at the height or racial unrest in the state. Her most recent book Mary McLeod Bethune the Pan-Africanist was published with the University Press of Florida and it was shortlisted for the 2024 MAAH Stone Book Award. Dr. Preston's past positions in the field of Public History include serving as director of the Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation-National Historic Landmark at Bethune-Cookman University while she also was an archives technician for the National Archives for Black Women’s History at the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House-National Historic Site.  Educated at Howard University (PhD), Temple University (MA) and Bowie State University (BS), her research has been published in Phylon, Journal of Black Studies, and The Journal of Negro Education.