[5] Her mother held a degree from Houston College for Negroes (1937) and later taught in the public schools of Oakland, California.

Her father had to drop out of college in 1937 during the Great Depression; he eventually trained for work as a laboratory technician.

She worked for years at the University of California, Berkeley, where she trained many students in lab techniques.

[6] They were part of the second wave of the Great Migration of millions of African Americans from the Deep South to urban centers; from the 1940s to 1970, many migrated to the West Coast for jobs related to the growing defense industry, especially in California.

During her undergraduate years, she studied French medieval history at the University of Bordeaux, France, 1962–63.

In 1990–91 she was acting director of Princeton's Program in Afro-American Studies, and in 1991 she was named the Edwards Professor of American History.

Her latest essay (from 2020, called My Corona Occupation) is about her experience with making art and writing during the pandemic.