Dr. Darrell Millner was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1946 and raised in the Los Angeles area of Southern California. He graduated from California State Polytechnic University with a degree in English in 1969, then taught English and Literature classes there until the summer of 1970 when he moved to Eugene, Oregon. In 1975, he graduated from the University of Oregon with a doctorate in Education and was then hired by Portland State University to teach Afro-American Literature and History in the Black Studies Department. Dr. Millner served as Department Chair of Black Studies from 1984-1995, and is currently Professor Emeritus and continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member in the department. He serves on numerous local, regional, and national boards and organizations.

Dr. Millner is an expert on the history of African-Americans in the western movement with a special focus on the Oregon and California trail experiences, early Oregon and California black history, and the history of the Black Buffalo soldiers in the Indian wars. He is also an expert on Black cinema history and the development and perpetuation of negative racial stereotypes.

He has served on the "frontlines" of the multicultural and diversity controversies as the Director of Multicultural Education for the Portland Public Schools and has an extensive background in teacher training and curriculum development for inner-city schools and disadvantaged youth.