Professor Mary Trent did her undergraduate education at the University of Chicago and then moved on to earn her Masters and Ph.D. at the University of California Irvine. She is a part of the Art and Architecture history at the College of Charleston and her area of specialization consists of American and African Art and History of Photography. As a part of her job, she works on African American photography, specifically set in the south in the 19th and 20th centuries. She also focuses on American art history, such as pieces that show the racial conflict that occurred during the Civil War. In her personal life, she mentions that “she didn’t grow up southern, but gained the culture through visiting a lot” due to her parents. Although she didn’t grow up in the south, her parents did and she hopes that her kids will get to grow up in the south too. She explains that she has seen some changes to the south and is curious about how it’ll change for the better. In our interview, I asked her what her overall impression of the south was and she replied “I had a stereotype of the south. I believed that it was a backward place and horribly racist. I didn’t think anything innovative was happening there.” She thought the south heavily ignored black culture and that many marginalized cultures were not studied. After coming down to the south, Trent noticed that it wasn’t all that she thought. She also realized that there were many racial issues occurring in the north too. Currently, she got permission to take care of a photo album by Ellen Craft that is now held in the Avery Research Center. She recently took an FYE class to go see the album and tell its story. Ellen Craft was enslaved in Georgia but escaped by pretending to be a slave owner with her own husband being her ‘slave’. This album is passed down through the women of the Craft family and ended up in Charleston. Trent’s emphasis on this album is that it shows what it’s like to have been a part of an African American family at that time.