Biography

Kim Nalley is a scholar of history with a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D., from the University of California, Berkeley. 

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Nalley specializes in US history and Late Modern Europe, with an emphasis on cultural, transnational, globalization, women’s, African American, and African Diasporic history.  Professor Nalley completed her dissertation in 2021 under renowned scholars Waldo Martin, Tyler Stovall, Daniel Sargent, and Ugo Nwokeji. Titled "GI Jazz: African Americans as Occupiers and Artists in Post-World War II Germany," it was nominated for the "Outstanding History Dissertation" prize in 2022.  Dr. Nalley's study draws extensively upon oral history and musical/musicological analyses to investigate the differing ideas of freedom and democracy among African American GIs, the military, and German audiences. Nalley's dissertation reveals a previously unresearched circuit of segregated clubs on and around military bases, and a Black jazz scene comparable to the Black expatriate jazz scene that grew in France after World War I.  She has presented her scholarship on US history and jazz and music history throughout the Bay Area, including at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Stanford University, the California Jazz Conservatory, and Google.  Her research and teaching strive to be inclusive of underrepresented and submerged voices in history.

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Professor Nalley published a guide to thinking about Nina Simone, "The Show Must Go On: Kim Nalley on Nina Simone & Mississippi Goddamn," in 2020.  Her paper "Losing Its Grease: Black Cultural Politics and the Globalization of Jazz'' was published in Democracy and Difference and she delivered a Keynote "I, Too, Sing America: Freedom and Democracy in Jazz" for the 21st AISNA Conference in Trento, Italy.  She has also written scholarly reviews for California History journal (UC Press.)  She is on the Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Justice board for the California Conservatory of Jazz.

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Professor Nalley is also an award-winning professional jazz singer. She frequently composes music with Black historical themes.  She is currently faculty at California State University, East Bay.