Breea Willingham

Influenced by her experiences as a sister and aunt of two men serving life sentences, Dr. Willingham’s research focuses on mass incarceration’s impact on Black families and how trauma informs Black women’s experiences in the criminal legal system.
 
Her work on incarcerated fathers and their children, Black women’s prison narratives, teaching in women’s prisons, and Black women and police violence has been published in academic journals and edited collections.
 
Dr. Willingham has presented her research at academic conferences nationally and internationally, given lectures at universities in the United States and the United Kingdom, and facilitated writing and reentry workshops in women’s and men’s prisons. She has also appeared on numerous webinars and podcasts, sharing her expertise on race, gender, crime, and higher education in prison.
 
Dr. Willingham is co-founder of the Jamii Sisterhood, an organization for Black women working to disrupt the colonized prison classroom. She also served as the first Managing Editor of the Journal of Higher Education in Prison.
 
Dr. Willingham is the editor of the anthology Punishment and Society, which she purposefully curated for educators who teach about the societal ramifications of incarceration. She is currently writing a book about Black women in higher education in prison and another about missing Black women and girls.

Education

Ph.D. in American Studies, State University of New York at Buffalo

M.A. in Business Management, Webster University

B.A. in Communications, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Research Interests

My research agenda and publications focus on Black women’s experiences in the criminal legal system. Using qualitative methods, such as interviews and focus groups, I incorporate the lived experiences of participants into my scholarship to ensure their voices are central in my research.