Bio
Patraillia Davis Bryant, M.A., is an incoming Ph.D. student in the History Department at Florida International University. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in History and Art History from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Summa Cum Laude. She also holds a Master of Arts in African and African Diaspora Studies and a Master of Arts in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from Florida International University.
Bryant's research examines race, urban development, historical memory, and historic preservation in South Florida through the lens of the African Diaspora. Her master's thesis, A Study of Racialized Dispossession: Gentrification in Miami's Historic Black Bahamian Neighborhood of Coconut Grove, explores how redevelopment, public policy, and changing land values have transformed one of Miami's oldest Black communities while documenting ongoing efforts to preserve its cultural heritage. Her interdisciplinary training has enabled her to situate the experiences of Afro-descendant communities in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean within broader diasporic and transnational historical contexts. As a emerging scholar, Davis Bryant is committed to community-engaged scholarship that integrates archival research, oral histories, spatial analysis, and public history to preserve and interpret the histories of African-descended communities throughout the Americas.