Directory of Members

• • James Worris Moore Leadership Academy Alum / Inaugural Cohort (NGS): Selected nationally as one of 8 scholars honoring pioneering African American archivist James Worris Moore.
  • MAAGI Certification: Genetic Genealogy in Action: Applied DNA for African American Family History (Midwest African American Genealogy Institute).
  • MAAGI Certification: Methods and Strategies for Slavery Era Research (Midwest African American Genealogy Institute).
  • GRIP Institute Certification: Genetic Networks (Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh).
• 28-Year Academic Tenure:
  • Tenured Professor, Communication Arts & Literature (KVCC & WMU): Taught full sequence across composition, literature, and creative writing.
  • Applicable Courses Taught: African American Literature, Women in Literature, Queer Literature, Studies in Poetry, Introduction to Creative Writing, Advanced Creative Writing Workshop, Creative Non-Fiction, Composition, African American Expereince, and Short Stories.

Honors & Awards:

• 2025  James Worris Moore Leadership Academy, National Genealogical Society Inaugural cohort of 8 scholars nationally
• 2023  OutFront Kalamazoo Medal of Arts
  ​​​Recognized for contributions to queer and trans communities of color

• 2023  Community Medal of Arts, Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo
• 2020  Sexton Prize for Poetry For A Ligature for Black Bodies, Black Spring Press
• 2020  International Book Award Nomination for A Ligature for Black Bodies
• 2016  American Book Award Nomination  |  Core
• 2016  Pushcart Prize Nomination  |  Core
• 2016  William Randolph Hearst Fellow, American Antiquarian Society
• 2015  Heritage Grant, Kalamazoo Community Foundation for Controlling the Narrative community project
• 2012  Kalamazoo Community Foundation Arts Fellowship

Awarded Fellowships and Residencies

• 2023 Willapa Bay Artist in Residence
• 2023 Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts Fellow​
• 2023 Helene and Dorothy West Renaissance House Residency Program
• 2023 Prairie Ronde Artist in Residence
• 2023 Bethany Arts Fellowship​
• 2021 Storyknife Writers Retreat Resident
• 2021 Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Fellowship
• 2021 Hart Residency​
• The 2016 William Randolph Hearst Fellow at the American Antiquarian Society 
• 2014 Hedgebrook Fellow

1. The Signature 6-Phase Curricular Sequence: Ground, Trace, Contextualize, Interpret, Preserve, Return—moving learners from a research question to a lasting family history book.
2. The 4-Register Fact Ledger: Treating an unresolved gap or oral tradition as a legitimate scholarly outcome rather than a failure.
3. Trauma-Informed Classroom Protocols: Ground Charters, advance notice for sensitive records, named stopping conditions, and paired research that safeguard participant emotional well-being.
4. Post-Custodial Ownership & Return Covenants: Ensuring families retain 100% physical custody, copyright, and narrative authority over their recovered histories.

• The Fact Ledger Beyond 1870: Evidence Correlation & Reclaiming Oral Tradition as an Archive of ResilienceGuides genealogists and scholars across the 1870 census threshold by applying the Genealogical Proof Standards (GPS) to non-traditional and fragmentary archives. Uniquely combines technical correlation with oral history auditing—teaching participants how to analyze family lore to extract and center core themes of ancestral strength, economic adaptability, and intergenerational fortitude. Participants practice using the 4-register Fact Ledger (Documented Fact, Family Memory, Reasonable Inference, Open Question) to sort claims with scholarly discipline while holding family tradition in high honor.
• Counter-Archival Poetics: Turning Cold Records into Living Black Literature and Performance Explores how creative scholars, poets, and playwrights translate census enumerations, pension depositions, redactive text, and oral accounts into award-winning literature and stage performance. Drawing from Miller's award-winning collections (A Ligature for Black Bodies, Core) and heritage theater projects (Controlling the Narrative), this session examines how counter-archival poetics restores emotional topography and personhood where official archives intended erasure.
• Post-Custodial Stewardship & Ethical Return: Healing-Centered Practice for Black Family History Addresses the history of extractive archival practices and provides participants with a non-extractive framework for lineage recovery. Introduces the Ground Charter (embedding personal care plans and defensible stopping conditions) and the Return Covenant (a written governance instrument ensuring families retain 100% physical custody, copyright, and narrative authority).
• Reading Black SoulTelling: Poetry as a Decolonizing Practice An interactive community studio and reflective masterclass exploring Black poetry as an active technology for decolonization, language recovery, and personhood reclamation. Miller guides participants through close readings and generative writing exercises that expose systemic oppression, dismantle imposed linguistic constraints, and center lived experience as sacred text.

• Institutional Fee Schedule:
  • Introductory Genealogy Lab (2-Hour): $1,500
  • Archive & Evidence Intensive (Half-Day): $3,000
  • Keynote Address / Public Lecture: $2,500 – $5,000
  • Community History Commission: $12,000 – $25,000
  • Family History Field School (Cohort): $20,000 – $35,000