A.D. Carson is an award-winning performance artist and educator from Decatur, Illinois. He received a Ph.D. from Clemson University in Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design. A 2016 recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Excellence in Service at Clemson, Carson worked with students, staff, faculty, and community members to raise awareness of historic, entrenched racism at the university through his See the Stripes campaign, which takes its name from his 2014 poem. His dissertation, “Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions,” was recognized by the Graduate Student Government as the 2017 Outstanding Dissertation. His music is available to stream or download free at aydeethegreat.com. His new album, I Used to Love to Dream, is forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press. Carson is currently assistant professor of Hip-Hop and the Global South in the Department of Music at the University of Virginia. Follow Dr. Carson on Twitter & IG @aydeethegreat. Photo credit: Kyle Petrozza