Christopher M. Span is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois in the Department of Educational Policy Studies. An historian of education, his research focuses on the educational history of African Americans. In 2007, he participated on a “Brief of Historians” for the Supreme Court consolidated Parents and Meredith (2007) school desegregation case. The case determined whether race could be used as a qualification for public school assignment at the elementary and secondary level. His book, From Cotton Field to Schoolhouse: African American Education in Mississippi, 1862‐1875 (2009), was published through the University of North Carolina Press. It details the first schooling opportunities of African Americans in the state during and after the Civil War. He is currently working on a book that details the educational history of African Americans during the 19th century. He is an immediate past board member for the Don Moyers Boys and Girls Club. He is the co‐president of the Black Faculty and Academic Professional Alliances (BFAPA) and is an immediate past President of Phi Delta Kappa (PDK).

Christopher was featured in Difference Makers 2010: An eBlack Champaign-Urbana Publication.