Sydney Hart is an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Wilbur Wright College, one of the city colleges of Chicago. Previously, she taught as a visiting instructor in Northeastern Illinois University’s sociology program. Throughout her teaching career, Sydney’s mission is to help students use sociology as a means of personal and social empowerment. She had the great fortune of introducing Jemimah Noonoo to sociology.

Sydney earned her Bachelor’s degree in sociology from Beloit College, her Master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a second Master’s degree and her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her main area of study is in the ways that people use material culture to construct and enact racial, ethnic, and religious identity.

Sydney has spent her adult life in the not-for-profit sector, including working as an organizer for INFACT in their anti-nuclear weapons campaign and staff support for the Chicago chapter of the National Organization for Women. Before starting her full time graduate education, Sydney worked as an exhibit developer for the Africa exhibition at the Field Museum of Natural History.