Trudier Harris (born February 27, 1948)[1] is an American literary scholar, author, writing consultor, and educator.

The family farm was successful, but her father still had to face prejudices of the day, and was jailed for an entire year after being accused of stealing a bale of cotton.

[7] Harris attended the all-black Druid High School in Tuscaloosa, where she wrote her graduating class' senior play.

[6] After receiving her undergraduate degree Harris attended a summer exchange program at Indiana University, which inspired her to go onto graduate school.

[8] Harris was at UNC until 1993 when she briefly moved to work in Atlanta, Georgia, at Emory University until 1996, when she transferred back to Chapel Hill, holding the position of J. Carlyle Sitterson Distinguished Professor.

Harris retired in 2009 after 27 years of teaching courses in African-American literature and folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[11] Harris became bored during retirement and decided to join the English department at the University of Alabama in her childhood town, Tuscaloosa.

This is a yearly competition among surrounding universities in Alabama "to showcase their scholarly knowledge of African American History in a variety of categories.