He is the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
[2] O'Meally grew up in Washington, D.C.,[3] to George O’Meally and Ethel Browne O'Meally,[4] who was a noted educator in the district's public school system.
He has been teaching at Columbia University since 1993, when he was appointed to the Hurston Professorship.
[2] O'Meally has written extensively about jazz artists, including Billie Holiday and African-American culture, notably on the life and works of Ralph Ellison and Sterling Allen Brown.
[7] He is married to Jacqui Malone, professor of dance at Queens College, City University of New York.