Ph.D., Historical Studies, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1990 

Dissertation: Economic Redevelopment Through Historic Preservation: The Main Street Pilot Project, 1977-1980. 

Ph.D. Concentrations: 

U.S. Progressive Era, 1896-1919 

Spanish American Colonial Period, 1492-1800 

U.S. Revolutionary, Early Republic, and National Period, 1775-1860 

Illinois and Mississippi Valley

Political Science and Public Administration 

M.A., History, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1977 

Concentrations in Latin American History and National Period in American History 

B.A., History; Minor, Sociology, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1975 

Concentrations in Latin American History and U.S. National Period 

A.A., Sociology, John A. Logan College, at Carterville, Illinois, 1973 

Post Doctorate Study 

Ford Fellowship in African Studies, Howard University, 1996 

Ford Fellowship in African American and Chesapeake Studies, Carter G. Woodson Institute, University of Virginia, 1997 and 2000. In 2001, 

I studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in preparation for mentoring students in South Africa that followed. 

Scholarly Work Publications 

Manuscript, On-Line Review and Published Book Reviews: 

Review of Between Washington and DuBois: The Racial Politics of James Edward Shepard. By Reginald K. Ellis. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2017. xii, 146 pp. Journal of American History (December 2018). Blind Manuscript Review for Journal of American History. Between Washington and DuBois: The Racial Politics of James Edward Shepard | Journal of American History | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

Blind Manuscript Review of Visions of America. New York: Pearson/Longman Publishers. May 21, 2007 

Manuscript Review of The American Struggle: A History of the United States from Colonial times to the Civil War by Joseph. New York: Pearson/Longman Publishers. May 2007.

 “Brief Review of Vietnam at War: The History, 1946-1975,” by Phillip Davidson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

 "Review of Santa Fe: History of an Ancient City," edited by David Grant Noble. Locus 3 (Fall 1990)1:109- 110. 

"Review of Derelict Landscapes," by John A. Jakle and David Wilson. Journal of Historical Geography 19 (July 1993)3:367-368. 

"Review of The Work of Nations," by Robert B. Reich. National Social Science Journal 8 (Spring 1994)1:233-234. 

"Review of Settlement Folk," by Mina Carson. The Journal of Popular Culture. 

Book Cover Review of William Chafe's Unfinished Journey. New York: Oxford University Press. 1995. 

“Review of Subversives: The Antislavery Movement in Washington, D.C. by Stanley Harrold. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003. H-DC affiliated with H-Net at Michigan State University. 2004. 

“Review of South by Southwest: Planter Emigration and Identity in the Slave South” by James David Miller. The. American South Series. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2002. H-South affiliated with H-Net at Michigan State University. Skelcher on Miller, 'South by Southwest: Planter Emigration and Identity in the Slave South' | H-South | H-Net; cited in Jill Beute Koverman, “Clay Connections: A Thousand-Mile Journey from South Carolina to Texas,” Scholar Commons, McKissick Museum, Columbia: University of South Carolina, January 1, 2009; also in Koverman, “Clay Connections: A Thousand-Mile Journey from South Carolina to Texas,” American Material Culture and the Texas Experience: The David B. Warren Symposium, ed. Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2009.

 “Review of The Maphumulo Uprising: War, Law and Ritual in the Zulu Rebellion” by Jeff Guy. Scottsville: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2005. H-SAFRICA affiliated with H-Net at Michigan State University. http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=317641191695482; Also, see Africana Librarians Council. University of Pennsylvania Libraries. 

 “Review of Indirect Rule in South Africa: Tradition, Modernity, and the Costuming of Political Power” by J.C. Myers. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press, 2008. H-SAFRICA affiliated with H-Net at Michigan State University. History Focus Group at the Annual Organization of American Historians Conference in Los Angeles, April 2001. https://networks.h-net.org/node/10670/reviews/11222/skelcher-myers-indirect-rule-south-africa-tradition-modernity-and

Acknowledged Manuscript Reviewer. Gary Nash, et al. The American People. 4 Edition. New York: Addison Wesley Longman. Manuscript Reviewer for University of Nebraska Press. November 2003. 

Acknowledged Manuscript Reviewer. Blind Review of African American Lives, American History by Clayborne Carson, Emma J Lapsansky-Werner, and Gary B. Nash. New York: Longman Publishers, 2005. 

Acknowledged Manuscript Reviewer. Blind Review of The Struggle for Freedom by Clayborne Carson, Emma J. Lapasansky-Werner, and Gary B. Nash. New York: Pearson-Longman Publishers, 2006. 

20/20 Research Group. On-Line Focus Group on Electronic Educational Resources for Project Muse at Johns Hopkins University. January 28, 2004. 

Acknowledged Manuscript Reviewer for John Hope Franklin and Alfred Moss, Jr. Updated by Evelyn Higginbotham. From Slavery to Freedom. McGraw-Hill, Eighth Edition. 

Published Journal and Newspaper Articles 

“Quakers and Education of African Americans in Delaware during the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries. Quaker Hill Historical Society Newsletter. August 2015. 

“Olmec and Myan Civilizations.” World History. Neil Schlager Group. “Aztec Civilization.” World History. Neil Schlager Group. 

“Inca Civilization.” World History. Neil Schlager Group. “Overview of Pre-Columbian Civilizations.” World History. Neil Schlager Group. 

“Strom Thurmond.”Milestone Documents of American Leaders. Paul Finkelman, Editor. Schlager Group, 2009. 

“Confiscation Acts”; “Second Confiscation Act”; “Thirteenth Amendment”; “Vandalia, Illinois.” Paul Finkelman, Editor. The Essential Lincoln: A Political Encyclopedia. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2009. 

“Education: Overview, 1754-1829.”  Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, 1754-1829. Paul Finkelman, Editor in Chief. New York: Scribner’s Sons, 2005. 

“Celebrating the Children of Brown v. Board of Education in Delaware.” Four Part-Series. Published by Bread and Water, Dover, Delaware. 

“Desegregation of Education in Delaware: A Challenge to Teachers.” Published in The Afro-American Newspaper. Wilmington, Delaware. February 2004. 

“The Niagara Movement: 100th Anniversary.” Published in The Afro-American Newspaper. Wilmington, Delaware. July 2004. 

“The Struggle Against ‘Jim Crow’ and ‘Bantu’ Education in the United States and South Africa.” in Before Brown/Beyond Boundaries: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education. 113-117. Association for the Study of African American Life and History Black History Month Kit. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc., 2004. 

“Friends and Freedmen: Historical Geography of the Underground Railroad in Central Delaware.” Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. (Fall 2003). 

“Removal of ‘Black Spots’: Forced Removals of the People from Lake Bhangazi in South Africa.” Journal of Black Studies. (July 2003): listed in Advancing Conservation in a Social Context: Working in a World of Trade-Offs, A project supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; cited in Manca Pavli, “Apartheid-Sistem Segregacize,” Documents, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia); also cited in Mambo G. Mupepi, “A crisis with an origin: proposing a framework for local and international engagement in Zimbabwe,” Visiting Scholar Center for International and Comparative Studies, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan); also cited in Felix Wächter, “An Investigation of the South African Land Reform Process, From a Conflict Resolution Perspective,” Masters Thesis (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, January 8, 2010); also cited in Ariell Hesse, “Housing, Process Not Product: The Tragedy of Housing in Joe Slovo,” Final Paper, Geography 497C, Pennsylvania State University; recommended reading in History 3110, History of South Africa: from Jan Van Riebeck to Nelson Mandela, University of Manitoba, Canada; also, included in reading list for History 950, Seminar on Global History: Mass Murder, Ethnic Cleansing, and the Modern State, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee; also cited in Seth Naicker, “Consciousness and Justice Journeying: From Biko ToBoesack, Excerpt from Research on “Contextual Black Liberation Theology”, presented at Bethel University Theological Conference in 2007 and at the Theological Society of South Africa Conference in 2008, Chapter in Rising Consciousness: Reflections on justice and reconciliation, (St. Paul, Minnesota: Bethel University, 2007); also cited in Noel Chellan and Sultan Khan, “Contesting Ecotourism Development in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal,” Alternation: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Arts and Humanities in Southern Africa 15 (2008)1: 268 – 289; also cited in Noel Chellan, and Sultan Khan. "Contesting ecotourism development in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park." Nature and People (2008); also cited in Craig Leisher, Roy Brouwer, Timothy M. Boucher, Rogier Vogelij, W. R. Bainbridge, and M. Sanjayan. "Striking a balance: Socioeconomic development and conservation in grassland through community-based zoning." PloS one 6, no. 12 (2011): e28807; also cited in Noel Chellan, Mdu Mtshali, and Sultan Khan. "Rebranding of the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park in South Africa: Reflections on Benefits and Challenges for the Former of St Lucia." J Hum Ecol 43, no. 1 (2013): 17-28; also cited in Frode Sundnes. "The Past in the Present: Struggles Over Land and Community in Relation to the Dukuduku Claim for Land Restitution, South Africa." In Forum for Development Studies, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 69-86. Routledge, 2013; also cited in Kerry Pearson. "Optimizing Micronutrient Intake of Lactating Women in KwaZulu-NATAL, South Africa, Through Increased Wild Edible Plant Consumption." (2011); also cited in Bernedette Atuahene. We Want What’s Ours: Learning from South Africa’s Land Restitution Program. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2014; also cited in Dawne Y. Curry. Apartheid on a Black Isle: Removal and Resistance in Alexandra, South Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012; also cited in “Reflections: iSMangaliso Wetland Park 2014 Annual Report,” South Africa; also cited in Discursos poscoloniales y renegociaciones de las identidades negras: Áfricas, Américas, Caribes, Europa by Clément Animan Akassi, Victorien Lavou, Centre de recherches ibériques et latino- américaines, Presses universitaries de Perpignan, 2010. 

Skelcher and Sam Hoff. “Civil Rights and the Supreme Court in the Reagan-Bush Years.” Lincoln Journal of Social and Political Thought. (Summer 2003). 

“Magnificent Eleven: Historical Significant and Endangered Architecture on Historically Black Universities.” In The Color Line Revisited: Is Racism Dead? Edited by Yohuru Williams, Baruti Kapano, and Bradley Skelcher. Association for the Study of African American Life and History Black History Month Kit. Tapestry Press, 2002. 

"Achieving the American Dream: The Career of John Augustus Nyden, 1895-1932." Swedish-American Historical Quarterly 45 (July 1994)3:132-148: Cited in Cecilia D. Elliott. The American Architect from the Colonial Era to the Present. Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland and Company, Inc. Publishers, 2003; Cited in petition to prevent the demolition of the Admiral Hotel in Chicago presented to City Council by the Carmen-Winona Block Club on December 9, 2005. 

Reference Information for Four-Part Series on the National Trust for Historic Preservation Main Street Pilot Project published by Small Town journal. Central Washington University Archives Guide to the Small Towns Institute Records, RG 042a, Series 05-82 Box 109 26. 

Skelcher, Bradley – Galesburg, Illinois, 1990 Box 110 1. 

Skelcher, Bradley – Hot Springs, South Dakota, 1992 2. 

Skelcher, Bradley – Lessons of Main Street, 1992 3. Skelcher, Bradley – Main Street Project, 1991 "What are the Lessons Learned from the Main Street Pilot Project, 1977-1980." Small Town 23 (July- August 1992)1:15-19; Cited in Michael Pacione, ed. The City: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences. London: Rutledge, 2001; Cited in David Pavlich, “The Main Street Program: Some Problems and Alternatives,” Paper Presented at Community Rural Area Planning Seminar held at Kansas State University, December 15, 1998; Cited in Kent A. Robertson, “Downtown Redevelopment Strategies in the United States: An End-of-the-Century Assessment,” American Planning Association Journal (Autumn 1995), 429-43 and reprinted in The City: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences. London: Routledge, 2001; Cited in Charaspim Boonyanunt, The New Town of Williamsburg: A Study of the New Urbanism. Master of Landscape Architecture Thesis. Blacksburg: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 1996: Cited in Alison Isenberg. Downtown America: A History of the Place and the People Who Made It. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004; Cited in Michael A. Burayidi. Downtowns: Revitalizing the Centers of Small Urban Communities. London: Routledge, 2001; cited in Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, 9, Tennessee Valley Authority, 1994. 

"Historic Preservation Arrives in the Black Hills: Hot Springs, South Dakota, Starts the Main Street Pilot Program." Small Town 23 (July-August 1992)1:4-14. 

"Preserving Main Street in the Heartland: The Main Street Pilot Project in Madison , Indiana." Small Town 22 (September-October 1991)2:4-13. Also required reading in Geography Class at Northern Arizona University. 

Listed in Rural Information Center, National Agricultural Library, U.S. Department of Agriculture 

"Main Street Mid-America : An Historic Overview of the Main Street Pilot Project in Galesburg , Illinois." Small Town 21 (July-August 1990)1:4-13. 

Also listed in Rural Information Center, National Agricultural Library, U.S. Department of Agriculture "American Small Towns in Flux and the Attempts to Preserve Them." National Social Science Association Perspectives (1990)2:51-61. 

"Main Street Mid-America: Hot Springs, South Dakota and the Main Street Pilot Project." 1989 Dakota History Conference Proceedings. 

"Spanish Colonial Architecture: A Historiographical Review." National Social Science Association Perspectives 3 (1989)5:87-103. 

"Cairo, Illinois: A Historical Study in Frontier Urbanization, 1835-1860." National Social Science Association Perspectives 2 (1988)4:135-150. 

Chapters in Books 

“Madison Restores Main Street to Preserve Its History and Architecture.” In Cities and the Arts: A Handbook for Renewal. Edited by Roger L. Kemp. 126-134. New York: McFarland & Company, 2004. 

“Preserving Main Street in Madison, Indiana.” In Main Street Renewal: A Handbook for Citizens and Public Officials. Edited by Roger L. Kemp. 290-300. New York: McFarland & Co. 2000. 

Education Chapter. In The Color Line Revisited: Is Racism Dead? Edited by Yohuru Williams, Baruti Kopano, and Bradley Skelcher. Baltimore: Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Tapestry Press, 2002. 

"Treating the Wounded in World War I: American Medical Personnel in France, 1914-1918." In Transactions of the Delaware Academy of Sciences. Volume 21, edited by Gerard J. Mangone, 13- 34. Newark, Delaware: Delaware Academy of Sciences. 1994-1995. 

"Main Street Mid-America: An Historical Overview of the Main Street Pilot Project in Galesburg, Illinois." In Understanding the Economy of the Place We Live: An Anthology of Articles from Small Town. Book 2, edited by Brian D. Thompson, 123-133. Olympia, Washington: Washington Department of Community Development. 1991. 

“Promises of Brown: Desegregating Education in Delaware: 1950-1968.” In Implementing Brown v. Board of Education: School Desegregation in Selected U.S. States, 1954-1968. Edited by Brian Daugherity and Charles Bolton. 155-173. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2008. 

Unpublished Reports Lake Bhangazi Heritage Center Development Plan: Final Report. Submitted to the Lake Bhangazi Land Claim Committee. KwaZulu-Natal. Republic of South Africa. August 11, 2001. 

State of Delaware. State Historic Preservation Office. African American Settlement Patterns in Central Delaware, 1773-1940. Dover, Delaware: Unpublished. 1995. 

State of Delaware. State Historic Preservation Office. African American Education in Delaware, 1770- 1940. Dover, Delaware: Unpublished. 1996. Honorable Mention, Delaware First State Award. 

Edited Books 

Janet Sims-Wood, General Editor, and Ida Jones, Tamara Brown, Bradley Skelcher, and Yohuru Williams, Associate Editors. Before Brown/Beyond Boundaries: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education. 113-117. Association for the Study of African American Life and History Black History Month Kit. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc., 2004; Cited in J. Vern Cromarties. “Structural Integration, Institutional Transformation, and Black Nationalism: Jacob H. Carruthers.

Before and After the Brown Decision.” In Cultural Memory: Ethnicity and Multiculturalism in the Modern World: 2005 Monograph Series. National Association of African American Studies. Yohuru Williams, General Editor, and Bradley Skelcher and Baruti Kapano, Associate Editors. 

The Color Line Revisited: Is Racism Dead? Edited by Yohuru Williams, Baruti Kapano, and Bradley Skelcher. Association for the Study of African American Life and History Black History Month Kit. Tapestry Press, 2002. 

Books

African American Education in Delaware: A History through Photographs, 1865-1930. Wilmington, Delaware: Delaware Heritage Press. 1999; Second Edition, 2007 paper; 2008 hardcover. Book signing on February 28, 2008 at Delaware State University; Cited in National Historic Landmark Designation; Cited in Brett Gadsden. Between North and South: Delaware, Desegregation, and the Myth of American Sectionalism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2012. https://archivesfiles.delaware.gov/ebooks/African_American_Education_in_Delaware.pdf

Delaware State University. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. 2000. Cited in Robert Taggart, “Howard High School: Shall African Americans Take the Academic or Vocational Curriculum?” American Educational History Journal 31 (2004)2:103-108; See Multimedia Presentation on Delaware State University and Reference at Wilmington News Journal, December 19, 2005. 

Forthcoming: Skelcher and Yohuru Williams. 1968 Riots in Wilmington, Delaware: An Oral History. Dover: Delaware Heritage Press. 

Film 

Historical Commentary in Whispers of Angels. Historical Documentary Film on the Underground Railroad. By Sharon Baker. Wilmington, Delaware: Teleduction. 2001. Winner of two Chris Awards and Gold Medal at the New York International Film and Television Festival and nominated for a Mid- Atlantic Regional Emmy Award in 2005. Historical Commentary and Script Review. 

With All Deliberate Speed. Historical Film Documentary of the history and legacy of Brown v. Board of Education in Delaware. In partnership with Teleduction. 2004. Winner of the Houston Film Festival and nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy Award in 2005. 

Inventory Outdoor Sculpture Inventory for Delaware. Save Outdoor Sculpture. Sponsored by Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art and Heritage Preservation (formerly National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Properties) and in Partnership with Friends of Old Dover. Inventory located at: Save Outdoor Sculpture! | Smithsonian American Art Museum (si.edu)

Delaware Inventory: https://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=Delaware&fq=object_type%3A%22Outdoor+sculpture%22&fq=data_source%3A%22Art+Inventories+Catalog%2C+Smithsonian+American+Art+Museum%22&fq=place:%22Delaware%22