A historian of the United States, Dr. Clark-Lewis is the Director of the Public History Program and has taught courses on African-American women, women in the United States, African-American history, District of Columbia history, and a survey of the course on African-Americans in Pennsylvania history.
As the department's Public Historian she also has offered courses on museums and archives, oral history, historic preservation and a seminar in the field. In conjunction she has taught students about genealogical research, family history and genealogy, and courses on related themes. She has published books and articles on these subjects, among them "Keep It Locked: 106 Tributes to AJ From The Mecca (2014);" "Synergy: Public History At Howard University (2011);" "First Freed: Emancipation in the District of Columbia (2003);" and "Living In, Living Out: African American Domestics in Washington, DC 1910-1940 (1994, paperback 1996)," winner of the Letitia Brown Prize in Women's History. She is the author of over a dozen articles on women, race, and labor which appeared in journals such as Washington History, Truth: Journal of the Association of Black Women, the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, and the Afro-American Genealogical Society Newsletter,and as chapters in books.
Dr. Clark-Lewis served on the Executive Board of the Organization of American Historians and was also the project director and producer for the PBS documentary film, Freedom Bags, which won the Oscar Micheaux Award. Her work has been supported by numerous research grants from the National Park Service, the National Endowment for the Arts, D.C. Arts and Humanities Council, several private and corporate foundations, the state of Virginia, WETA Channel 26 [PBS], and Howard University. Along with a postdoctoral research fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Clark-Lewis has gained recognition through many awards, including the Best Documentary award from the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, a Gold Apple award from the National Education Association, a First Place at the American Film and Video Festival as well as graduate research awards from the Ford Foundation and the Shomacher Foundation.