In December 2024, AAAS Faculty Member Elea Proctor was published in the Journal of the Society for American Music. Titled Dora Dean and the Performance of Black Womanhood in the “Coon Song” Craze, Dr. Proctor argues that vaudeville performer Dora Dean successfully navigated stereotypes of Black women's femininity, sexuality, and morality in her performances of “coon songs” and, in the process, subverted stereotypes of Black life, romance, and vocal sound. The full article is open-access and is available on the Cambridge University Press website. 

Elea Proctor is an assistant professor in the Department of African American and African Studies at The Ohio State University. Dr. Proctor’s scholarship addresses the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality in U.S. popular music and culture, paying specific attention to Black women’s musical performances in the wake of slavery.