Portia D. Hopkins holds a doctorate in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. As the 2020-2022 CLIR/DLF Postdoctoral Research Associate in Data Curation for African American Studies at Rice University she teaches workshops, conducts outreach about data curation to African American activist groups in Houston, assesses and inventories local data collections. She is currently leading two Oral History Projects about African American Life in Houston, and working to develop best practices documents on data curation at Rice and across Houston.

Hopkins is the recipient of the Bode-Wise American Studies Fellowship and the Wiley Dissertation Fellowship at the UMD. Before pursuing her doctorate, she earned a Bachelors in History from Texas Christian University in 2006 and a Masters in American Studies from the University of Alabama in 2008. She is interested in oral history research, grassroots social movements, and the ways in which African American History is remembered in the 21st century. She has taught courses at The University of Alabama, The University of Maryland, The University for Houston- Clear Lake, and with the Honors Program at Lee College.