Dr. Richards is currently an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at James Madison University, where he has taught Foundations of American Education, Introduction to Social Studies Education, Classroom and Behavior Management in a Diverse Society, as well as co-teaching a Special Topics in Education course centered around Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in core subjects. Richards is an alumnus of James Madison University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in History with minors in Africana Studies, InterdisciplinarySocial Sciences, and Secondary Education in 2013 and a Master of Arts in Teaching in 2014. He obtained his Doctor of Education from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. His research focuses on policies, programs, and practices related to recruiting and hiring BIPOC faculty in higher education.

Before arriving as a faculty fellow in 2021, Dr. Richards taught for seven years at Waynesboro High School in Waynesboro, Virginia, where he taught Ancient and Modern World History, Advanced Placement United States History, and United States and Virginia Government. In addition to these courses, Dr. Richards developed and taught the Africana Studies course at the high school.

Dr. Richards’ current research centers on educational equity, historical literacy, and teacher-pipeline transformation, with a particular focus on African diasporic history, racial formation, and the misuse of history in public discourse. His scholarship integrates archival research, social-science methods, and community-engaged digital scholarship to examine how historical narratives shape contemporary educational policy, teacher preparation, and civic understanding. Across peer-reviewed research, public scholarship, and multimodal dissemination, his work advances historically grounded, equity-driven interventions in teacher education and counters racialized misinformation through rigorous evidence and innovative public pedagogy.


Current Publications 

• Richards Jr., L.L. (2024). Establishing a culturally responsive college classroom. VASCD Journal, 21(1), 114-128. 
• Richards Jr., L.L. Desegregating Our Curriculum: Integrating A Miserable Revenge into Virginia’s Classrooms, in A Miserable REVENGE: A story of life in virginia Book Review 

Featured Publications 

• Myers, J., Zugelder, B., Griffin, O., & Richards, L. (2025). Examining the experiences of paraprofessionals of color in an online grow your own teacher education program. In M. Carmo (Ed.), Education and new developments. World Institute for Advanced Research and Science. 
• Kavanagh, K., Smith-Woofter, M., Hadley, D., Richards, L, Pulos, J., Thacker, E., Brown, T., Merritt, J., Doubet, K., & Koubek, K. (2024). Responding with confidence: An inclusive educator's guide to handling the culture wars, inclusion, and curriculum. Multicultural Perspectives, 26(4), 240-250. https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2024.2437707 
• Griffin, O., Richards Jr., L., Hadley, D., & Aduakoh, B. (2024). BLACKOUT: Addressing the Black Male Teacher Shortage in the United States. Journal of Education and Social Justice, 9(1), 8-16.