Biography

Dr. Sarah Griffith teaches courses rooted in mid-19th – 20th-century United States and modern East Asian history with specializations in comparative race and ethnic studies, Asian American studies, and Pacific Rim transnationalisms. Dr. Griffith also offers courses on race and critical refugee studies in the Queens’ General Education program. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency and is currently faculty adviser to the Stan Greenspon Holocaust and Social Justice Education Center at Queens.

Dr. Griffith has published articles in the Western Historical Quarterly, the Pacific Historical Review, and the Journal of American History. Her first book manuscript, Asian American Civil Rights: Liberal Protestant Activism, 1900-1950 (University of Illinois Press, March 2018) explores the evolution of liberal Protestant anti-racism and anti-imperialism and the conflicting interests that drove them to pursue cooperative coalition building with Japanese Americans and interdenominational allies. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in Tokyo, Japan in 2019-2020, Dr. Griffith embarked on new research that explores the social and organizational networks forged among Japanese and American women in the late 19th c. Pacific.

Education

Ph.D., History, University of California, Santa Barbara
M.A., History, Portland State University
B.A., Lewis & Clark College