Black Scholar

Black Scholar
Title	Black Scholar
Discipline	African American studies; African diaspora studies; social justice
Abbreviation	BS
Publisher	Third World Press; initial independent press
Country	United States
History	1969–present
Frequency	Quarterly

Black Scholar Black Scholar is a peer-reviewed journal and magazine focused on African American, African diaspora politics, culture, history, and scholarship. Founded in 1969 amid the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power era, and student activism at institutions such as Howard University, San Francisco State University, and University of California, Berkeley, the journal became a forum for intellectuals, activists, and artists like Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Amiri Baraka, Frantz Fanon, and bell hooks. It has engaged debates involving figures and entities such as Malcolm X, W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Black Panther Party, Congress of Racial Equality, and Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Overview

Black Scholar addresses scholarly and public-facing issues across topics linked to African American history, Pan-Africanism, Afrocentrism, civil rights activism, and cultural criticism. Its readership includes academics from Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, and Yale University as well as activists associated with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, artists from Harlem Renaissance, and policymakers from institutions like the NAACP and Congressional Black Caucus. The journal publishes articles, essays, reviews, interviews, and artwork by contributors connected to venues such as The New York Times, The Nation, The Guardian, and The Atlantic.

History and Founding

Black Scholar was established in 1969 by scholars and activists who had ties to organizations such as University of California, Berkeley Free Speech Movement, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the broader international context of decolonization with links to leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, and Patrice Lumumba. Founding editors and associates included intellectuals connected to Columbia University, Howard University, and City College of New York, drawing on networks that involved African Liberation Movement figures and cultural producers from New York City, Chicago, and Oakland, California. Early issues debated policies impacted by events like the Vietnam War, the Watts riots, and the aftermath of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Editorial Mission and Content

Black Scholar's editorial mission centers on rigorous analysis of topics related to African diasporic experiences, intersectional critiques involving scholars from Princeton University, Stanford University, Rutgers University, and collaborations with organizations such as Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and National Museum of African American History and Culture. Content ranges from historiography engaging Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth to cultural studies on artists like Nina Simone, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Sun Ra. The journal publishes work on international dimensions linked to Apartheid, Soweto Uprising, African National Congress, Caribbean leftist movements, and intellectual exchanges with thinkers such as Edward Said and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.

Notable Contributors and Staff

Over the years Black Scholar has featured contributors and staff including scholars, activists, and artists associated with Cornel West, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Patricia Hill Collins, Ibram X. Kendi, Molefi Kete Asante, Frantz Fanon-influenced authors, and cultural critics tied to publications like Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. Editors and recurring contributors have connections to institutions such as City College of New York, University of Michigan, Howard University, University of California, Los Angeles, and Spelman College. Poets and musicians published include those linked to Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Haki Madhubuti, and Sun Ra Arkestra.

Influence and Reception

Black Scholar has influenced debates spanning Black feminism associated with Audre Lorde and bell hooks, Pan-African conferences attended by delegates from Ghana, Nigeria, and Jamaica, and policy discussions involving Fair Housing Act aftermath and civil rights litigation brought before the Supreme Court of the United States. Reviews and critiques have appeared in outlets like The New Yorker, Time (magazine), and The Washington Post, with academic citations across journals such as Journal of African American History, Callaloo, and American Quarterly. The journal played roles in controversies that engaged figures linked to Black Panther Party, Nation of Islam, and debates over Black Studies curricula at universities including San Francisco State University and City University of New York.

Awards and Recognitions

Black Scholar and its contributors have received recognition from institutions and awards including honors connected to National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships, MacArthur Fellowship-linked recipients among contributors, acknowledgments from American Historical Association, and accolades from cultural institutions such as Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Coalition of Black Studies Departments. Individual essays and articles have been reprinted in anthologies published by presses like Oxford University Press, Routledge, University of California Press, and Third World Press.

Category:African American journals