Dr. Crystal Edwards (she/her) serves as Vanguard’s Research & Project Management Lead, guiding research initiatives and supporting the development and management of projects across Vanguard’s archival, cultural heritage, and public history work. She is also an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator in the Africana Studies Department at San Francisco State University.

Dr. Edwards earned her PhD in Africology and a graduate certificate in Educational Policy from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2017. Her research centers the experiences of people of African descent globally, with scholarly interests spanning Black Feminisms, Black Queer Theory, intersectional identities, African diasporic history and culture, and archival methodology.

Her current scholarship examines the historical and contemporary implications of Black Queer Feminism as a liberatory practice, with particular attention to documentation practices and archival development within global Black feminist organizing. Through her research and archival work, Dr. Edwards brings rigorous interdisciplinary research methods, historical inquiry, and critical analysis to Vanguard’s projects.