Education

Ph.D. in History, University of Arkansas
M.A. in Irish History, Queen’s University Belfast
B.A. in History, John Brown University

Biography

Dr. Cooke researches the intersection of Modern Irish History and U.S. Civil Rights History, exploring how African American nonviolent strategies influenced activists in Northern Ireland and how those ideas were reinterpreted in new contexts. His work combines traditional historical methods with digital technologies to examine transnational movements and the media’s role in spreading civil-rights ideas across the Atlantic. He is particularly interested in oral history and the preservation of underrepresented voices in modern freedom struggles.

Dr. Cooke has taught U.S. History, World Civilizations, and Western Civilization at the University of Arkansas and John Brown University before joining USC Salkehatchie in 2025. He is passionate about helping students see that history is more than names and dates — it is the ongoing human story of identity, conflict, and hope.

Outside of teaching, he enjoys photography and hiking.

Selected Publications & Research

Review of Christopher P. Campbell (ed.), Race, Representation, and Satire (Lexington Books, 2024), The Journal of Popular Culture 58 nos. 1–2 (2025): 26–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpcu.13381

Review of Jessica Ingram, Road Through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial (University of North Carolina Press, 2020), submitted Fall 2025 to Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South (under review).

Selected Presentations

“Complex Solidarities: Irish Americans, Northern Ireland Civil Rights, and the Black Freedom Struggle,” Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA (2025).

“Transnational Nonviolence: Translating Nonviolent Direct Action from the United States into the Context of Northern Ireland,” Celtic Studies Association of North America, Fayetteville, AR (2025).

“‘Let it be a creative tension’: Translating Ideas of Nonviolent Direct Action from the U.S. into the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles,’” Conference on Faith and History, Birmingham, AL (2024).

“Singing with America: The Influence of African American Music on Activism in Northern Ireland,” ASALH Conference, Pittsburgh, PA (2024).

“‘The coloured people have shown, like Gandhi, the effectiveness of a creed of non-violence’: The Spread of Nonviolent Ideas from America to Northern Ireland,” Graduate Association of African American History Conference, Memphis, TN (2024).

Awards and Honors

Council of Graduate Schools Distinguished Dissertation Nominee, University of Arkansas (2025)

Memphis State 8 Paper Prize (2024)