Camille is a historian who writes and makes speeches about the connections between culture, history, and politics. She earned a PhD in intellctual and visual history from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
She is working on a book that focuses on how images and intellectual movements shaped and demonstrated concepts of American identity and leadership during the founding of the United States. Her specific medium of analysis is American portraiture.
In addition to the history of America’s founding, Camille conducts extensive research on ancient history, African American history, sports imagery, and fashion history. She has worked with the Nike athletic brand, TIME Magazine, Black Bride Magazine, D Magazine, and The Washington Post.
She is a contributring author to the 2023 published book Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture, which was coordinated jointly by the White House Historical Association and the University of Virginia Press. Camille’s chapter is called “Mourning a Soldier, Losing a President: The Mixed Legacy of Zachary Taylor.”
In 2022, Camille’s work was featured at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Additionally, between 2020-2022, she held two consecutive research fellowships with the Winterthur Museum of Delaware.
In addition to earning a PHD from Southern Methodist University, Camille holds a master’s degree in history from the University of North Texas and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baylor University. At Baylor, her arts & culture column for the campus newspaper earned appearances on the national collegiate news wire, then known as Copyboy, which meant her column was recommended to colleges and universities across the nation. Additionally, she is an alum of the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
While earning her master’s at the University of North Texas, Camille’s thesis focused on the ways in which England’s landmark slavery case, known as the Somerset Trial, impacted discourses on liberty and governance during the American Revolution. Also, she was ranked in the top 10 percent of her class.
Camille was a past co-secretary of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion subcommittee of the international Historians of Eighteenth Century Art and Architecture organization (HECAA).
Some of her additional memberships include the Junior Associates, which is the young professionals branch of the Dallas Museum of Art and the Carter Society, which is the young professionals’ branch of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, TX.
At Southern Methodist University, Camille served as Senior Editor of the graduate history department blog called The Future of the Past and as one of the project managers for the Voices of SMU oral history project, a research initiative that assessed the campus experiences of SMU’s alum of color. Additionally, she was a part of the student advisory board of the SMU libraries. In 2018, she was inducted into the Golden Key Honor Society, and in 2019, she earned the highest university rating of “distinction” during her PhD candidate qualifying exams.
Between 2022-2024, Camille completed a two-year term as the inaugural H. Ross Perot Sr. Postdoctoral Fellow at the SMU Center for Presidential History. Within this role, she built the technological infrastructure and managed data on an oral history project that illuminates the contributions of H. Ross Perot Sr. to American politics, business, and technology.
Camille is an extroverted introvert who enjoys people, imagery, food, music, nature, theater, poetry, and sports. She loves finding ways to make moments of life feel special and extraordinary for others. She enjoys adventure and humor.
Camille is a scholar who is commited to public engagement. She happily accepts requests for speaking engagements, special projects, and other collaborations at info@joiedevisual.com and daviscamille3@gmail.com.
**Camille’s portrait was photographed by Christopher Louis Davis.
