Velma Maia Thomas

Velma Maia Thomas is the author of several nonfiction books on African American history. Maia served as manager of the Shrine of the Black Madonna Bookstore and Cultural Center in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1987 to 2000, where she created the nationally acclaimed Black Holocaust Exhibit, a collection of original documents on slavery in America. A gifted writer and public historian, Maia was one of 100 distinguished Americans selected to contribute to Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Celebration of the...See more

Velma Maia Thomas is the author of several nonfiction books on African American history. Maia served as manager of the Shrine of the Black Madonna Bookstore and Cultural Center in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1987 to 2000, where she created the nationally acclaimed Black Holocaust Exhibit, a collection of original documents on slavery in America. A gifted writer and public historian, Maia was one of 100 distinguished Americans selected to contribute to Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Celebration of the Negro National Anthem . She also was selected to write the introduction to Finding a Place Called Home: A Guide to African-American Genealogy and Historical Identity . Her work The Odd Fellow City: The Promise of a Leading Black Town was published in the Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians . She also served as a subject expert for the PBS documentary, Underground Railroad: The William Still Story , which aired nationally in February. Maia holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Howard University, a master's degree in political science from Emory University, and a graduate-level certificate in Heritage Preservation from Georgia State University. She has served as keynote speaker at universities, libraries, and museums across the nation and has served as a distinguished scholar at the historic Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Maia has been interviewed by the New York Times , The Atlanta Journal and Constitution , and the British Broadcasting Corporation . She continues to write, teach, and speak on African American history, using her engaging style to bring history to life. See less