Eric Reeves Papers

Charles Eric Reeves was born in 1950 and grew up in South Pasadena, California, the eldest of three boys and two girls. His English mother and Canadian father moved from Canada to California after World War II.

Reeves attended Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, from 1968-1972. While he had received a scholarship to assist with his living costs, he donated his funding to the Biafra Relief Fund to aid victims caught up in the civil war in Nigeria. Reeves had a student deferment during the Vietnam War; however he chose to pursue conscientious-objector status as well, and received an 1-O classification. Reeves graduated with with a bachelor’s in philosophy, and married his wife Nancy in 1973, with whom he has raised two daughters.

Reeves received his Ph.D. in Renaissance literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1979 began working as a Professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1999, he began focusing full-time as a Sudan researcher and analyst, publishing extensively both in the US and internationally. He has testified several times before the Congress, has lectured widely in academic settings, and has served as a consultant to a number of human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan. Working independently, he has written on all aspects of Sudan's recent history. His book about Darfur, A Long Day's Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide, was published in May 2007. Reeves maintains a website on Sudan documentation, http://sudanreeves.org.