1st Edition
Fifty Key Scholars in Black Social Thought
Fifty Key Scholars in Black Social Thought is a collaborative volume that uplifts and explores the intellectual activism and scholarly contributions of Black social thinkers. It implores readers to integrate the research of Black scholars into their teaching and research, and fundamentally, to rethink the dominant epistemological claims and philosophical underpinnings of the Western social sciences. The volume features fifty chapters, written by fifty-five scholars who explore the diverse contributions of notable Black thinkers, both historical and contemporary.
Four thematic areas organize this work—Black epistemology, Black geopolitics, Black oppression and resistance, and Black families and communities. Through a close analysis of the fifty thinkers presented here, the chapters explore these themes while dismantling the whitewashed disciplinary histories, methodologies, and content that obscure and/or subjugate the significance of Black social thought. In addition to offering insightful and timely analysis, each chapter offers suggested readings for readers who would like to dive deeper into the work of Black social thinkers.
This volume offers an accessible starting point for exploring the work of Black scholars past and present and their contributions to sociology and the social sciences more broadly. It is useful to students, academics, practitioners, and the lay public who are curious about Black social thought.
Introduction
Marie-Claude Jipguep-Akhtar and Nazneen M. Khan
PART I: BLACK EPISTEMOLOGY
Black Feminist Epistemology
1. Anna Julia Cooper
Hedwig Lee
2. Audre Lorde
Tristen Craig
3. Fatou Sow
Scott London & Seulgie Lim
4. Rose Brewer
Danielle Melvin Koonce
5. Patricia Hill Collins
Nazneen M. Khan
6. Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Mark Anthony Rivas, Maddison Wells, & Marie-Claude Jipguep-Akhtar
7. bell hooks
Mi’Chael N. Wright
8. Combahee River Collective
Nazneen M. Khan
Black Insurgent Sociology
9. James Edward Blackwell
Aziza Bayou
10. Archie Mafeje
Maddison Wells, Lauren L. Taylor, & Marie-Claude Jipguep-Akhtar
11. Delores P. Aldridge
Olivia A. Johnson
12. Joyce Ladner
Amy Yeboah Quarkume
13. Aldon Morris
Mary Pattillo & Michael Schwartz
14. Earl Wright II
Derrick R. Brooms & Chad J. Sloss
PART II: BLACK GEOPOLITICS
15. Booker T. Washington
Jennifer Goode
16. W.E.B. Du Bois
Cassandra Jean
17. Charles S. Johnson
Heather A. O’Connell
18. Oliver Cromwell Cox
Christopher Gunderson
19. C.L.R. James
Rhone Fraser
20. Horace R. Cayton, Jr.
Tess E. Starman
21. St. Clair Drake
Deneen Long-White
22. Frantz Fanon
Tariq D. Khan
23. Stuart Hall
Christopher Gunderson
24. Roy Simon Bryce-Laporte
Mosi Adesina Ifatunji
25. William Julius Wilson
Larry (Leo) B. Davis, Tiffani Elliott, & Joseph A. D. McBride
26. Cedric Robinson
Jared Loggins
27. Walter Rodney
Benedict Ngala
28. Esteban Miguel Morales Domínguez
Reynaldo Ortíz-Minaya
29. Elijah Anderson
Nicole Dezrea Jenkins
30. Amina Mama
Linda Silim Moundene
PART III: BLACK OPPRESSION, BLACK RESISTANCE
31. Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Veronica Fernandez
32. Monroe Nathan Work
Ángel A. Escamilla García
33. Derrick Bell
Joey N. Jennings
34. Beatriz Nascimento
Diana Wandix-White
35. Angela Davis
Akiv Dawson
36. Manning Marable
Nana Atakora Appiah-Padi
37. Loretta Ross
Denae Bradley-Morris
38. Cornel West
Elisabeth Lucien & Tashawn Reagon
39. Dorothy Roberts
Marie V. Plaisime
40. Lawrence D. Bobo
Sarah E. Cribbs
41. Kimberlé Crenshaw
Denise Bissler & Brittany Freelin
42. Ruha Benjamin
Mako Fitts Ward
43. Kehinde Andrews
Marie-Claude Jipguep-Akhtar & Tess E. Starman
PART IV: BLACK FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES
44. Zora Neale Hurston
Tennille Nicole Allen
45. E. Franklin Frazier
Tracy Perkins
46. Ira De Augustine Reid
Dana J. McCalla
47. Andrew Billingsley
Tia M. Dickerson
48. Toni Morrison
Dana A. Williams
49. Nathan Hare
Nazneen M. Khan
50. Doris Y. Wilkinson
Linda A. Treiber
Biography
Marie-Claude Jipguep-Akhtar is Associate Professor of Sociology at Howard University, where she has served as graduate program director for close to ten years. Her research interests are race/ethnicity, gender, the life course, and “place” disparities in health and criminal justice. Her research and teaching incorporate Black sociological perspectives that explain the influence of race on the opportunity structure of minorities and the fundamental social inequalities that significantly impact their health, socioeconomic, material, political, and other outcomes.
Nazneen M. Khan is Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology at Randolph-Macon College, where she also serves as Director of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. Using intersectional theory and methodology, her research and teaching focuses on families, children, and reproductive health and wellbeing in a US context. Her recent scholarship can be read in Contexts, Children & Society, and Sociological Focus. She is also editor of COVID-19 and Childhood Inequality (2022).
