Karen Y. Morrison, "Kym" earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Duke University and worked for a few years in weapon systems design before turning to the study of history. She completed her doctorate at the University of Florida and currently teaches in the areas of African, African Diasporan, and Latin American social histories. Before arriving at UMass she taught at Kenyon College and Moravian College. Her research focuses on the relationship between family formation and racial identity in nineteenth and twentieth-century Cuba. Toward this end, she has traveled extensively throughout the island on several occasions, beginning in 1995. She has published in Cuban Studies/ Estudios Cubanos, the Journal of Social History, and Slavery & Abolition. She currently is completing a book-length study.