Johnathan White, Ph.D.

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Associate Teaching Professor, History
Co-Founder - Stewart and Jones Scholar Leadership Program
Main Building, 109
Penn State Greater Allegheny
4000 University Drive
McKeesport, PA 15132

Educator. Artist. Minister. Freedom Writer—Freedom Fighter. Public Intellectual. Mentor. Worshipper.

Dr. Johnathan JeVon White was born in Norfolk, VA. He graduated from Clark Atlanta University with a B.A. in Political Science. He earned his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in modern U.S. and African American history. His dissertation examined the labor union of Pittsburgh’s black jazz musicians before and after integration, and how collective memory re-imagines the past. 

He is an Associate Teaching Professor at Penn State Greater Allegheny. He has taught courses in history, African American studies, black arts, and leadership development. He co-founded the Study of Hip-Hop Conference and the Stewart and Jones Scholar Leadership Program. He is a founding member of the Crossing Bridges committee which serves the surrounding community. In addition, he chairs the Racial Equity task force at PSUGA. He is also creator of the Black Woman Reaffirmed video project. His up coming album, Love Algorithms, is an eclectic mix of poetry, hip-hop, and spoken word.

He is a board member of the Langston Hughes Poetry Society. In addition, he served as lead instructor of the Full Armor Institute, mentoring young black men at Mt. Olive Baptist church. Lastly, he has conducted black history workshops and seminars on living a vibrant lifestyle that synthesizes faith and the pursuit of social justice.


Teaching Interests: Modern US History; Black Studies; Radical Black Thought and Black Intellectual History; Black Artistic and Oral Expression; Hip-Hop and Revolution; Leadership Studies

Area(s) of Expertise : History; Black Studies; Leadership Studies; Critical Hip-Hop Analysis

African centered educational pedagogy

Black artistic expression and revolution

Sankofa studies: creating connective tissue between Black collective memory and black futurity. How do we learn from the pain of our past and create a black future inspired by the best elements of the legacies of the African diaspora

Ph.D. - History (Power and Inequality field), University of Pittsburgh, 2020

M.A. - U.S. History/Modern African-American studies, University of Pittsburgh, 2001

B.A. - Political Science, Clark Atlanta University, 1996

AFAM 100N
Main Building 204
Tue., Thurs. 3:05 - 4:20 p.m.
AFAM 111N
Main Building 204
Mon. 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
AFAM 210
Frable Building 208
Tue., Thurs, 1:35 - 2:50 p.m.
CNED 296
Main Building 201
Tue., Thurs. 12:05 - 1:20 p.m.