Angel McKissic

Director, Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights

DEAL 6 Alum

Angel McKissic is a mother, activist, researcher, and immigrant. Her scholarship and advocacy work traverse the psychosocial and political domains of analysis. Guided by a Black feminist ethics of care, Angel approaches her work with a sincere commitment to responsibility, transparency, co-creation, and accountability. She is driven by the liberation of all subjugated people, and she believes that achieving this requires an internationalist, multiracial, and cross-class solidarity.

After earning a B.S. in Psychology and an M.A. in Clinical Psychology and training as a psychotherapist, Angel worked with women struggling with substance use and trapped in the revolving door of the carceral apparatus. Through this work, she developed an analysis of the social, political, and interpersonal drivers of incarceration, poverty, and community decline. Angel used this lens to inform her work at the Detroit Justice Center, where she founded the Metro Detroit Restorative Justice Network (MDJRN). Through the MDRJN, she and the members worked to advance a transformative justice culture in Detroit. She led the MDRJN through legislative advocacy, community education and skill-building initiatives, and designing a research agenda to support public awareness and policy change. Angel is completing a PhD in Sexuality and Gender at the University of Birmingham, where she employed a pluralistic qualitative research approach to expanding empowerment theories through the lens of Black women's lived experiences.

Angel's work brings together the fields of Black Feminist theory, African American studies, psychology, sociology, and criminal justice. She is excited to bring an interdisciplinary approach to building a vision and strategic plan for the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights to expand its programming and impact on Detroit.