Publications

Publications

The MIT Black History Project is committed to collecting, developing, curating, and preserving content on the Black experience at MIT dating back to 1865. We are also currently working with others to bring this knowledge to bear on the challenges we all face within the greater scope of the Institute’s mission and accomplishments.

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Song of the Water Saints
Book
2000s

Song of the Water Saints: A Novel, 2002

Alum
A debut novel by MIT writing professor Nelly Rosario tracing three generations of Dominican women across continents, blending poetic prose with the weight of memory and migration.
Other Researchers
Tackling Jim Crow
Book
2000s

Tackling Jim Crow: Racial Segregation in Professional Football, 2003

No items found.
A book documenting the history of racial segregation in professional football, with a focus on MIT alumnus William Arthur Johnson who broke the color barrier in the NFL.
Other Researchers
What Makes Racial Diversity Work in Higher Education
Article
2000s

The MIT Experience: Personal Perspectives on Race in a Predominantly White University, 2004

Administrator
An article by MIT's Clarence G. Williams reflecting on his experiences of race at the Institute, published as a chapter in a volume on diversity in higher education.
MIT Black History Project
Article
2000s

William Barton Rogers and the Southern Sieve, 2005

Administrator
An article examining the complicated relationship between MIT founder William Barton Rogers, his scientific career in the antebellum South, and the institution of slavery.
Other Researchers
The Serious Search for Black Faculty at MIT page
Article
1990s

The Serious Search for Black Faculty at MIT, 1995

Faculty
An article documenting MIT's 1995 efforts to recruit Black faculty, naming the eight tenured Black professors then at the Institute and examining the barriers to diversification.
Other Researchers
The Gilded Years
Book
2010s

The Gilded Years, 2016

Alum
A novel by Karin Tanabe based on the true story of Anita Hemmings, who passed as white at Vassar in 1897, with a fictional subplot involving her brother, a connection to MIT.
Other Researchers
HBCUs Facing the Future, 2012
Paper
2010s

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Facing the Future, 2012

Faculty
A 2012 study examining the challenges facing Historically Black Colleges and Universities and proposing strategies for their long-term sustainability and relevance.
Other Researchers
A Widening Sphere
Book
2010s

A Widening Sphere: Evolving Cultures at MIT, 2011

Administrator
A 2011 MIT Press book tracing the evolution of MIT's culture from its 1861 founding through more than a century of growth, diversity, and institutional transformation.
Other Researchers
Countless Connecting Threads, 2013
Book
2010s

Countless Connecting Threads, 2013

Administrator
A 2013 illustrated history of MIT celebrating the interconnected contributions of its faculty, students, and alumni across 150 years of science, engineering, and society.
Other Researchers
Type
Timeline
The Physics of Karate, 1979
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Article
A Scientific American article co-authored by MIT physicist Ronald McNair PhD '77 and his mentor Michael Feld, analyzing the biomechanics behind how martial artists break boards with bare hands.
Faculty
Counteracting Hate with Positive Diversity Stories, 2017
Article
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Article
A 2017 article examining the friendship between MIT physicist Michael Feld and a Black colleague, and how their bond became a model for countering hate with positive diversity.
Alum
A Soldiers Home, 1892
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1890s
Other Researchers
1890s
Thesis
An 1892 architectural thesis by Robert Robinson Taylor, MIT's first Black graduate, documenting a design for a soldiers' home and marking a historic first in American architectural education.
Student
Comparative wearing tests on different makes of globe and gate valves, 1910
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1910s
Other Researchers
1910s
Thesis
The 1910 MIT thesis of Dallas Brown Jr. '10, one of the Institute's early Black graduates, on comparative wear testing of industrial valves used in mechanical engineering.
Student
The Negro Farmer [excerpt]
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1910s
Other Researchers
1910s
Article
An article excerpt by Robert Robinson Taylor '92 written for MIT's 1913 Negro Farmer publication, describing the work of training Black agricultural professionals at Tuskegee.
Alum
Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America, 2013
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A history of Bengali Muslim immigrants in early 20th-century America, tracing forgotten communities in Harlem and beyond, by MIT professor Vivek Bald.
Faculty
Crazy Enough To Try, 2015
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A 2015 book by MIT-connected author Joi Gordon encouraging readers to integrate personal passion into their professional lives, drawing on her own journey from student to nonprofit leader.
Alum
This Is How You Lose Her, 2012
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A novel by MIT professor Junot Diaz following the passions and losses of Yunior, a Dominican-American man navigating love and identity across New Jersey and the Caribbean.
Faculty
Phantasmal Media, 2013
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A 2013 MIT Press book by D. Fox Harrell examining how computing systems shape imagination, identity, memory, and social experience.
Faculty
Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique, 2012
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A book by MIT professor Sally Haslanger examining social construction theory and its application to race, gender, and other contested social categories.
Faculty
Black Faces in White Places, 2010
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A 2010 book by MIT Sloan alumnus Randal Pinkett offering strategies for Black professionals navigating and succeeding in predominantly white institutions and industries.
Alum
CyPhrons: Code of the Realm, 2011
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A science fiction novel featuring CyPhrons, virtual beings navigating a coded realm, in a story of hope, faith, and perseverance by an MIT-connected author.
Alum
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