ACLS highlights scholarly resources on the hidden and lesser known histories of the Black American experience, and humanistic resources that celebrate, envision, and work toward positive Black futures.
Similar to the previously published section of scholarly writing and resources celebrating Inclusive Excellence, we asked members of the ACLS community to share their own published works, as well as recommendations for resources that can expand knowledge and understanding in this important area of scholarship.
We invite ACLS fellows and members to share additional contributions, as well as any questions or comments, with us at [email protected].
I believe heirlooms are wealth that have a propensity to shape how we can understand Black peoples’ legacies and their possible futures. They can validate the ideas, events, and objects that Black families revere.
Kersha Smith F’21
Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolutions(Harvard University Press, 2011) Written by Jane Landers F’13, G’16, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor Department of History, Vanderbilt University
Becoming Free, Becoming Black: Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana (Cambridge University Press, 2020) Written by Alejandro de la Fuente F’17, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics; Professor of African and African American Studies and of History; Director of Graduate Studies; Director, Afro-Latin American Research Institute, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University; and Ariela J. Gross F’17, F’03, John B. and Alice R. Sharp Professor of Law and History, University of Southern California
Black Litigants in the Antebellum American South(University of North Carolina Press, 2018) Written by Kimberly Welch F’19, Assistant Professor, Department of History, School of Law, Vanderbilt University
Black Society in Spanish Florida (University of Illinois Press, 1999) Written by Jane Landers F’13, G’16, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor Department of History, Vanderbilt University
Illustrating the challenges and exclusion often experienced by Black women in academia, Shanna Greene Benjamin has written this compelling and unexpected biography of Nellie Y. McKay, a formidable scholar of contemporary literature and women’s studies.
Review of Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay by Shanna Greene Benjamin F’19 in Ms. Magazine
Struggle of Struggles (University Press of Mississippi, 2023) Written by Vera Pigee, republished with a new introduction, annotation, and footnotes by Françoise N. Hamlin F’15, Royce Family Associate Professor of Teaching Excellence in Africana Studies & History, Brown University
Social Practice Art in Turbulent Times: The Revolution Will Be Live (Routledge, 2019) Chapter entitled “Reframing Resistance & Surveillance: Lorraine O’Grady’s Art Is…” written by Kim Bobier F’16, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of History of Art and Design, Pratt Institute
From enslaved people who joined Washington’s Continental Army to Buffalo Soldiers in the Indian Wars, from the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II to Black men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, African Americans have been an integral part of the country’s armed forces–even while the nation questioned, challenged, and denied their rights, and oftentimes their humanity.
These Truly Are The Brave: An Anthology of African American Writings on War and Citizenship edited by Françoise Hamlin F’15 and Yęmisi Jimoh
The Forward Ever – African Communities Together Co-created by Martha Lagace F’21, ACLS Leading Edge Fellow, African Communities Together and Abosede George, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, Barnard College
Eileen Southern and The Music of Black Americans: A Digital Exhibit Created by Carol J. Oja F’2016, William Powell Mason Professor Department of Music and Graduate Program in American Studies, Harvard University, and Faculty Director of the Humanities Program, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; Katie Callam, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard GSAS Fellowships & Writing Center; and Christina Linklater, Keeper of the Isham Memorial Library, Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Harvard
To Enter Africa from America Created by Jeannette Eileen Jones F’19, G’19, UB Center for Diversity Innovation Distinguished Visiting Scholar, University at Buffalo; John Gruesser G’18, Senior Research Scholar, Sam Houston State University; Nadia Nurhussein F’08, Professor, English and Africana Studies, John Hopkins University; and Nemata Blyden, Professor of History and International Affairs, Columbian College of Arts and Science
The Ohio Black Press in the 19th Century Created by Jewon Woo F’19, Associate Professor of English, Division of Arts and Humanities, Lorain County Community College
Sutton Griggs Co-created by John Gruesser G’18, Senior Research Scholar, Sam Houston State University
Resources Recommended by ACLS Fellows
BOOKS
My Love, My Love: or, The Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy (Coffeehouse Press, 2002) Recommended by K. Maya Larson F’22, ACLS Emerging Voices Fellow, Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication, Princeton University
On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life by Sara Ahmed (Duke University Press, 2012) Recommended by K. Maya Larson F’22, ACLS Emerging Voices Fellow, Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication, Princeton University
Remarkable Receptions Recommended by John Gruesser G’18, Senior Research Scholar, Sam Houston State University
WEBSITES
Century of Black Mormons Submitted by Quincy D. Newell F’11, Professor of Religious Studies, Hamilton College
Electric Marronage by Jessica Marie Johnson and Yomaira Figueroa-Vásquez Recommended byBianca C. Williams F’21, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Women & Gender Studies, & Critical Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
