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Eric Ashley Hairston is an Associate Professor of English and of Law and Humanities at Elon University. He is also the founding director of the Center for Law and Humanities at Elon.  He regularly teaches undergraduate courses in American Literature, African-American Literature, Classical Literature, Law and Literature, and Southern Literature.  He has also taught Law and Humanities at the Elon University School of Law.  Dr. Hairston’s research areas include intersections of Classical Literature and American Literature, especially classical influences on African American and Southern writers, as well as the interdisciplinary study of law, literature, and the humanities.

Dr. Hairston has regularly presented his work at professional conferences, including the Modern Language Association and the American Comparative Literature Association.  He has also served as a panelist and commentator on issues of law, politics, and policy.  Dr. Hairston’s most recent publication, The Ebony Column: Classics, Civilization, and the African American Reclamation of the West (2013), was the inaugural book of the Classicism in American Culture Series published by the University of Tennessee Press. It was also named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2014. He was a contributor to New Essays On Phillis Wheatley, edited by Dr. John C. Shields, and his work in law and policy appears in the The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America (2012).  He was awarded a Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Fellowship for 2014-2015 for continuing research on classics and African American Literature.