Joseph Richardson, Jr.

Acting Chair of the African American Studies Department and the Joel and Kim Feller Endowed Professor of African American Studies and Anthropology at the University of Maryland

Joseph Richardson, Jr. is the Acting Chair of the African American Studies Department and the Joel and Kim Feller Endowed Professor of African American Studies and Anthropology at the University of Maryland. Dr. Richardson’s research focuses on four specific areas: 1) gun violence; 2) the intersection of structural violence, interpersonal violence, and trauma among Black boys and young Black men; 3) the intersection of the criminal justice and health care systems in lives of young Black men; and 4) parenting strategies for low-income Black male youth. Dr. Richardson is the Founder and Executive Director of the Transformative Research and Applied Violence Intervention Lab (TRAVAIL). His selected research publications have appeared in Violence and Gender, American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Urban Health, the Journal of Surgical Research, Violence and Victims, Social Science and Medicine, the Journal of Family Issues, the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men, and New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development. He received his Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Rutgers University. Read more about how Dr. Richardson uses storytelling to explore gun violence and trauma.