“You are moving in the direction of freedom, and the function of freedom is to free somebody else. You are moving toward self-fulfillment, and the consequences of that self-fulfillment should be to discover that there is something just as important as you are.”

— Toni Morrison, The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations

My name is Olivia McNeill.

I’m an educator, researcher, writer, and consultant based in Durham, North Carolina. 

Olivia McNeill (she/her, they/them) is the Black, queer descendant of teachers, preachers, and farmers from southeastern North Carolina. Over the past ten years, her work has spanned K-12 education, higher education, arts organizations, reproductive justice movements, Afro-Indigenous healing farms, youth restorative justice groups, and gender-based violence advocacy. With training and experience in education, project management, operations, capacity-building support, research, evaluation, and assessment, Olivia is deeply committed to decentralizing traditional approaches to teaching, learning, organizational capacity-building, and research in pursuit of liberation.

Currently, they are a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where they collaborate with Black Southern educators to document their teaching experiences through oral histories and community-curated archives.

Let’s connect

My Practices

  • Education

    I’ve co-created liberatory learning spaces in K-12 classrooms, colleges, universities, and community education spaces.

    My approach emphasizes collaboration, right relationship, and a commitment to teaching that centers our collective liberation.

  • Consulting

    In my work, I have built relationships with arts-based organizations, youth restorative justice groups, reproductive justice movements, Afro-indigenous healing farms, school districts, non-profits, and survivor advocacy organizations.

    In these roles, I’ve led project research and assessment initiatives, managed large-scale projects, provided operations support, and built organizational capacity through long-term accompaniment and coaching. 

  • Writing

    Whether co-authoring articles, curating resources, or participating in panel discussions, I have created and contributed to platforms that inspire reflection, action, and transformation.

    My expressions are rooted in a belief that storytelling and community-accountable scholarship can be powerful tools for collective growth and liberation.

  • Research

    I am a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts in the Social Justice Education program. My research explores Black educational histories through the lens of collective memory, oral histories, and participatory archives.

    I am the recipient of the Research Enhancement and Leadership (REAL) Fellowship and the Dr. Maurianne Adams Endowed Social Justice Scholarship Fellowship.