In the summer of 2000, he was honored as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, where he taught and mentored a class of sophomores, as well as wrote the majority of the book Freedom Dreams.

During the academic year 2009–10, Kelley served as Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University,[6] the first African-American historian to do so since the chair was established in 1922.

[8] Born in New York City, Kelley earned his bachelor's degree from California State University, Long Beach, in 1983.

He is also a prolific essayist, having published dozens of articles in scholarly journals, anthologies, and in the popular press, including the Village Voice, Boston Review, and The New York Times.

His works in progress include A World to Gain: A History of African Americans, with Earl Lewis and Tera Hunter, and a biography of journalist and adventurer Grace Halsell.