Kate Aguilar is a professor of African American History, with a focus on race and sport, at Gustavus Adolphus College in southern Minnesota. She earned a Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Connecticut, and an M.A. in Africana Studies from Indiana University. Her research examines Miami and South Florida as critical locations for analyzing American conservatism in the 1980s and the national ascendency of the New Right. Cultural histories of Miami have yet to explore how college football and the Orange Bowl Festival shaped the city’s sociopolitical framing on the local and national stage. Her work demonstrates how astutely the Black college football player and Black Miami boosters recognized Miami football within the larger 1980s struggle for Black civil and political rights. 

Kate is also an active member of the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) and a trained diversity and inclusion practitioner from Cornell University. She lives with her three active kiddos, pup Remi, and sweet husband in southern Minnesota.