main office
Haag Hall, Room 204
5120 Rockhill Road (northwest corner of 52nd & Rockhill)
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499
Tel: (816) 235-1137
Fax: (816) 235-5542
faculty
Dr. Mary Ann Wynkoop, Ph.D.
Program Director
Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Mary Ann Wynkoop graduated from DePauw University. She received graduate degrees from Columbia University and the University of Colorado as well as a Ph.D. from Indiana University. Her professional background includes positions at The Colorado College, Willamette University and currently as Director of American Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is author of Dissent in the Heartland -- a history of Midwestern students during the 1960s -- published by Indiana University Press. She teaches classes on the 1960s, American film, the civil rights movement, women's history, and the culture wars. A determined but slow runner, she also practices yoga, tries to find an ocean beach at least once a year, and admits to being ruled by cats.
Dr. Pellom McDaniels, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History and American Studies
Dr. McDaniels received both his Master of Arts degree (2006) and his Doctoral degree (2007) in American Studies from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. McDaniels specializes in African American Masculinities, Sport, and Negro Leagues Baseball at UMKC, where he teaches courses in sports history, gender studies, film, and African American history. He has written on Carter G. Woodson, black baseball, and contemporary African American art. His articles include "As American As...: Filling in the Gaps and Recovering the Lost Narratives of America's Forgotten Heroes" (2008), and "A Time Called Too Early: African American Men, Baseball and the Pursuit of the American Dream" (2008). He is currently researching the life of the nineteenth century African American jockey Isaac Murphy.
To achieve its interdisciplinary focus, the UMKC American Studies Program draws upon faculty from other academic units such as Communication Studies, Sociology/Anthropology, English, History, and the School of Education.
