Selassie I, W Gabriel

W. Gabriel Selassie I is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Northridge, where he also serves as Director of the Center for Southern California Studies (CSCS). He earned a Ph.D. in History from Claremont Graduate University.

Dr. Selassie’s research focuses on 19th & 20th century African American Intellectual history, Garveyism, African American historical consciousness, public memory, reparations, Black institution-building, and the history of the African Diaspora. His scholarship explores the ways Black communities preserve, recover, and transmit historical knowledge across generations. He is the author of Ethiopian Americans: History, Culture, and Experiences (2025) and has published on African American history, Pan-Africanism, Black religion, Black environmental and public history. He is currently engaged in research on reparations, eco-critism, historical memory, and the making of Black Los Angeles, including the development of the Black Los Angeles Mapping & Community Knowledge Lab.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Selassie is a public historian whose projects have included oral history initiatives, digital humanities collaborations, and historical recovery efforts dedicated to preserving overlooked dimensions of Black history in the United States and throughout the African Diaspora.

Website & Podcasts: https://thepeopleshistorian.com/
2th Infantry Clemency Project: https://justiceforthe24th.org/

M.A. Theology 2017, University of Notre Dame
M.A. African American Studies 2009, University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D. American History 2005, Claremont Graduate University
M.A. American History 2003, Claremont Graduate University
M.A. Public History & Historic Preservation 1997, California State University, Dominguez Hills
B.Arch. Architecture & Civil Engineering 1988, Prairie View A&M University