African American Scholarship

African American scholars and scholarship have had a place at the University of Chicago from our very beginning.

Our inaugural class, in 1892, included an African American woman. In 1921, a student made national history: Georgiana Simpson published her dissertation and became one of three African American women to earn a PhD that year—among the first three to do so in the United States. In 1942, we were among the first non-historically black universities to tenure an African American professor, and by 1943 the University of Chicago had awarded more PhDs to African Americans—45 in all—than any other university.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is deeply interwoven with our pursuit of rigorous inquiry and scholarship. This site highlights recent research by African American faculty members that also holds relevance for today's African American community, creating better understanding and offering opportunities to enrich Black Americans' lives.