Faculty Member Since 2022
Dr. Presswood completed his doctorate program at the University of California—Irvine in Modern Chinese History. His transnational research projects interrogate the historical record of socio-cultural interactions between Africa, the African Diaspora and China in the 20th century. He is the writer and director of the documentary Yellow Jazz Black Music that traces the story and influence of African American jazz musicians in Shanghai from the 1920s to the present-day. Dr. Presswood has also contributed to mainstream periodicals like The Atlantic. Dr. Presswood is an avid believer in the transformative experience of overseas study. In 2005, he founded and operated the first African American-owned study abroad organization focused exclusively on increasing the number of African American students studying overseas. In five years, his organization successfully matriculated dozens of Black students on his China program. In 2021, he was a Leading Edge Fellow with American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Postdoctoral Fellowship working on study abroad equity with a major study abroad institution. Dr. Presswood is a member of both the National Committee on U.S. China Relations and The China Research Center
Ph.D., Modern China and East Asia, University of California—Irvine
M.Sc., International Public Service, DePaul University
B.A., History, Morehouse College
Sino-Black Relations, China, East Asia, 20th century African American History, History of Race and Racism, Jazz and Black Music History, Documentary Films, and Black Internationalism
Presswood, Marketus. “Sonicated Blackness in Jazz Age Shanghai, 1926-1954: Jazz, Community, and the(in)visibility of African American musicians in the creation of the soundtrack of Chinese modernity.” Souls: A critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, 22 no. 2-4: Captured Histories: Blackness, State violence, and Resistance
Presswood, Marketus. “I’ll Write a Song for you: Paul Robeson, Blackness, and Race in the official Chinese imagination, 1955-1968.” Special Issue: Archives of Afro-Asia: Excavating the Cultural Politics of the Early Decolonisation Era. Itinerario: Journal of Imperial and Global Interactions: Cambridge University Press(in review)
Non-peer-reviewed publications
Presswood, Marketus. “Living in the White House” and “Black is Beautiful” In China Tripping: Encountering the Everyday in the People’s Republic edited by Jeremy A. Murray, Perry Link, and Paul G. Pickowicz. Rowman & Littlefield Press, 2019.
“On Being Black in China,” The Atlantic, July 17, 2013,
Filmography/Media
Documentary Films
“Yellow Jazz/Black Music: Race, Culture and History in China Vol. 1” (Completed Fall 2021) Director/Producer/Writer
“Sunrise in the West: Black Jazz and the Asian American Movement” (in post-production)
Director/Producer/Writer
The Atlantic: " On Being Black in China "