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Frederick Opie

  • Professor
  • Baldwin Richardson Foods Term Chair
Academic Division: History & Society
Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie is Professor of History and the Baldwin Richardson Foods Term Chair at Babson College. In addition to teaching, publishing, and public speaking, Opie supports the work of producers, journalist, and documentary film makers. He also shares his research interest and musings as a blogger and the producer and host of The Fred Opie Show.

Academic Degrees

  • Ph D, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
  • BS, Syracuse University

Academic Interest / Expertise

Food, Pre-Colonial Africa, African Diaspora History

Awards & Honors

  • 2012 — Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University
  • 2011 — C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, Frederick Douglass Fellowship, Washington College

Courses

  • Degree Courses 2026

    • FCI 1000 FOUNDATIONS OF CRITICAL INQUIRY

  • Degree Courses 2025

    • HSS 2003 LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY
    • HSS 2032 AFRICAN HISTORY AND FOODWAYS

  • Degree Courses 2024

    • FCI 1000 FOUNDATIONS OF CRITICAL INQUIRY

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Opie, F.D. (2009). “Garveyism and Labor Organization on the Caribbean Coast of Guatemala, 1920-1921”. Vol: 94, Issue: no. 2, Page: 153-71.. Journal of African American History.
  • Opie, F.D. (2009). “Developing Their Minds Without "Losing Their Soul: Black and Latino Student Coalition Building in New York, 1965-1969”. Vol: 33, Issue: no. 2, Page: 79-108.. Afro-American In New York Life and History.
  • Opie, F.D. (2008). “Black Americans and the State in Turn-of-the-Century Guatemala”. Vol: 64, Issue: no. 4, Page: 583-609.. The Americas.
  • Opie, F.D. (2008). “Eating, Dancing, and Courting in New York: Black and Latino Relations, 1930-1970”. Vol: 42, Issue: no. 1, Page: 79-109. Journal of Social History.
  • Opie, F.D. (2008). “Molasses-Colored Glasses: WPA and Sundry Sources on Molasses and Southern Foodways”. Vol: 14, Issue: 1, Page: 81-96.. Southern Cultures.
  • Opie, F.D. (2004). “Foreign Workers, Debt Peonage and Frontier Culture in Lowland Guatemala, 1884 to 1900”. Vol: 12, Issue: 1-2, Page: 40-50. Transforming Anthropology.

Book Chapters

  • Opie, F.D. (2025). “Courting and Food in Zora Neale Hurston's Culinary South”: The Zora Neale Hurston Reader. Page: 25. Amistad/HarperCollins.
  • Opie, F.D. (2021). “Dick Gregory's Self Care Journey and His Guide Dr. Alvenia M. Fulton”: Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora. Ten Speed Press.
  • Opie, F.D. (2020). “African American History is American History”: The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food. Voracious/Little Brown.
  • Opie, F.D. (2014). Influence, Sources, and African Diaspora Foodways: Food in Time and Place: The American Historical Association Companion to Food History. Page: 188-208. University of California Press.
  • Opie, F.D. (2012). Alcohol and Lowdown Culture in Caribbean Guatemala and Honduras, 1898-1922: Distilling the Influence of Alcohol: Aguardiente in Guatemalan History. Page: 96-119. The University of Florida Press.
  • Opie, F.D. (2010). “Spotlight: Alvenia Fulton”: Gender and Women's Leadership: A Reference Handbook. Sage Publications.
  • Opie, F.D. (2005). “Africans in the Caribbean and Latin America: The Post Emancipation Diaspora,” in Blackwell Companion to African American History: The Blackwell Companion to African American History. Blackwell.

Books

  • Aronson, M., Freedman, P., Opie, F.D., Palacios, A., Willis, T., Zheng, D. (2024). Bite by Bite: American History through Feasts, Foods, and Side Dishes: Bite by Bite: American History through Feasts, Foods, and Side Dishes. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
  • Opie, F.D. (in press). Food Rebels: Why Freedom Requires Rebellion: Food Rebels: Why Freedom Requires Rebellion. University of California Press.
  • Opie, F.D. (2017). Southern Food and Civil Rights: Feeding the Revolution: Southern Food and Civil Rights: Feeding the Revolution. Page: 192. American Palate. link
  • Opie, F.D. (2015). Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food: Recipes, Remedies, and Simple Pleasures. Page: 144. The History Press. link
  • Opie, F.D. (2014). Upsetting the Apple Cart: Black-Latino Coalitions in New York City from Protest to Public Office: Columbia History of Urban Life Series. Page: 312. Columbia University Press.
  • Opie, F.D. (2009). Black Labor Migration in Caribbean Guatemala, 1882-1923: Florida Work in the Americas Series. University of Florida Press.
  • Opie, F.D. (2008). Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America. Columbia University Press.

Presentations

  • “Food History, Businesses, and Care: Culinary Entrepreneurs, Sourcing, Giving Groceries, and Self-Care” Opie, F. Healthy Food Community of Practice Conference, Virtual (2021)
  • “Hunger and Health: The Devastating Impact of Structural Racism” Opie, F. Share Our Strength and Food & Society, Virtual (2021)
  • “Stumping and Eating, The Role of Food and Politics: 1880s-1960s” Opie, F. Invited Lecture, Virtual (2020)
  • “Food Justice Through History” Opie, F. It's Just Food: A Food Justice Symposium, Phillips Andover Academy (2019)
  • “The Sandwich Brigade and the 1963 March on Washington” Opie, F. Boston Public Library Lecture Series, Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts, (2017)
  • "Sustenance in the Struggle for Freedom" Opie, F. Lecture, Atlanta, Georgia (2017)
  • Food Justice, Race + Design Panel Opie, F. Black and Design Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2015)
  • “Zora Neale Hurston's Work on Food-Based Prescriptions for Illnesses: A History” Opie, F. Book Event, Manhattan, NY (2015)
  • “The Culinary World of a Literary Icon: Zora Neale Hurston,” Opie, F. October Meeting, Brooklyn (2015)
  • “Earthenware: A History of Table Traditions and Related Recipes” Opie, F. Annual Meeting, Rhode Island (2015)
  • Atlantic World Foodways Through the Lens of Zora Neale Hurston Opie, F. Atlantic World Foodways: The Carolina Lowcountry, Africa, Italy and Spain, Greensboro, NC (2014)
  • Gender, Food and Culture in American History Opie, F. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2013)
  • Stumping and Eating: Latino Voters and the Role of Food in 2012 Race to the White House Opie, F. University of Maryland, College Park, MD (2012)
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Additional Links

Professional Memberships

  • Southern Foodways Alliance
  • Association for the Study of Food and Society (2005 - Present)