She is an expert in applying Black feminist and critical race approaches to the study and teaching of Classics.

[14] She has described the difficulties of her early career and the process by which she became interested in race in the classical world through teaching students about Cleopatra and researching 19th-century African-American classicists.

[18] Haley's assertion in the documentary that her grandmother told her that Cleopatra was black was criticized, though she also stated that "We don't know her exact racial heritage.

"[19][20] Despite her claims, the ethnicity of Cleopatra has been well-studied through history and the consensus is that she was of Macedonian Greek ancestry; the debates regarding her ethnicity haven't taken place in academic circles or sources,[21] being instead mentioned in entertainment and lifestyle magazines such as Ebony; and an article about Afrocentrism from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1994 mentions the question, too, despite lacking evidence for the claim.

[29][30] Haley has published and presented widely on Cleopatra, Black Feminist Pedagogy, and the impact of a classical education on African-American women.