Research Projects

Selected Publications:

Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood (Amistad Press an imprint of HarperCollins, 2005)

Mae West, An Icon in Black and White (Oxford University Press, 2001)

God, Harlem U.S.A:  The Father Divine Story (University of California Press, 1992)

Current Projects

The Black Cabinet: African American Braintrusters in Roosevelt's New Deal Administration (book length)

Movie Czar: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's First Censor, Will H. Hays (book length)

The Great Pioneer Flood of 1851: Mapping Cultural Memory and Environmental Change in Diverse Communities Along the Mississippi (Digital History Project)

Going Digital:  Incorporating New Media Technology into the History Degree (article length)

Contact Information

Office: 240 Markstein Hall
Email:  jwatts@csusm.edu
Phone:  760.750.4114