Elijah DeVaughn

Elijah DeVaughn is a doctoral student in American Studies. His research interests include African American intellectual history, constitutional law, literary criticism, and rhetoric. 

Elijah graduated from Harvard College in 2021 cum laude with highest honors in U.S. History and Literature. As a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, he completed a senior thesis on Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s political thought and praxis. For this project, he won Harvard University’s Hoopes Prize. In 2023, Elijah earned an MPhil in U.S. History at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. After his studies, he served as a speechwriter to President Joe Biden. Hired at the age of 23, he was one of the youngest presidential speechwriters in American history.

Elijah hails from Compton, California in South Los Angeles, a place his family has called home for generations. He loves reading memoirs, singing, attending church, and hanging with friends.