Rate My Professor Jill Watts

Jill Watts is Professor Emeritus in the History Department at California State University, San Marcos, where she began teaching in 1992 as one of the first faculty members. Her academic journey started with a B.A. in History from the University of California, San Diego in 1981, including a minor in Mathematics, followed by an M.A. in 1983 and a Ph.D. in 1989 from UCLA, focusing on African American and American social and cultural history. Before CSUSM, she taught as Assistant Professor at Weber State University from 1989 to 1991, Visiting Assistant Professor at UCLA in 1991, and Instructor at Santa Monica Community College in 1984. She also held a fellowship at Cornell University’s Society for the Humanities in 1994-1995.

Watts has held significant administrative roles at CSUSM, including Chair of the History Department from 2012 to 2015, multiple terms as Graduate Studies Coordinator, Program Director for Film Studies, and Co-Director of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She contributed to developing the History M.A. program’s Digital History component and supervised the Digital History Lab. Her research centers on U.S. social and cultural history, African American history, film history, digital history, and biography. Key publications include God, Harlem U.S.A.: The Father Divine Story (1992), Mae West: An Icon in Black and White (2001), Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood (2005), and The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt (2020). Two books were optioned for films, and she has published articles in journals like Pacific Historical Review. Awards include the Harry E. Brakebill Distinguished Professor Award (2017-2018) and CSUSM President’s Award for Scholarship (2007). Watts has influenced the field through consultations on PBS documentaries and national radio appearances.