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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Article
1990s

MIT's Mea Culpa: Now, What About Black Faculty?, 1999

No items found.
A 1999 analysis of MIT's landmark report on discrimination against women faculty, and whether its findings would prompt similar action for Black faculty.
Other Researchers
Technology and Insustrial Efficiency cover
Paper
1910s

The Scientific Development of the Negro, 1911

Alum
A paper delivered by Robert Robinson Taylor '92 at MIT's 50th anniversary celebration in 1911, arguing for the scientific education of Black Americans as a path to progress.
Other Researchers
Article
1940s

The Civil Engineer, 1946

Alum
An article profiling Lewis King Downing '24, the first Black graduate of MIT's Sloan School, who went on to a distinguished career as a civil engineer and college president.
Other Researchers
Article
2010s

The Desegregation of an Elite Economics Department’s PhD Program: Black Americans at MIT, 2014

Alum
An article tracing the history of Black PhD students in MIT's economics department from the 1970s onward, examining barriers to entry and outcomes over four decades.
Other Researchers
J.R. Applegate
Article
1990s

The African-American Linguist Who Broke the Faculty Barrier at MIT, 1997

No items found.
An article documenting how Joseph Applegate, MIT's first Black faculty member, broke the faculty color barrier as a linguist in 1955 and paved the way for those who followed.
Other Researchers
Figure 2- The battle for ‘Trayvon Martin’
Article
2010s

The battle for ‘Trayvon Martin’: Mapping a media controversy online and off-line, 2014

Faculty
An academic article by MIT professor Sasha Costanza-Chock analyzing how the Trayvon Martin case spread through social media and shaped public discourse on race and violence.
Other Researchers
Article
1990s

Role Models and Mentors for Blacks at Predominantly White Campuses, 1994

Administrator
An article arguing that educators must invest in mentorship and role models for Black students at predominantly white institutions to improve retention and success.
MIT Black History Project
Grid of students prior to the Class of 1930
Thesis
1980s

Notes on Researching Blacks at MIT prior to the Class of 1930, 1983

Student
A 1983 MIT research note reconstructing the fragmentary records of early Black students at MIT before the Class of 1930.
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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