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.

Filter
Clear all
Showing 0 of 100
Researcher
Type
Timeline
MIT Affiliation
Clear all
Filter close icon
Filter open icon
Filters
Thesis
1970s

Black entrepreneurship in the US: An historical appraisal, contemporary problems and future prospects (a study in demand for entrepreneurship), 1971

Student
A 1971 MIT dissertation by Robert Bofah examining the historical development of Black entrepreneurship in the United States and the structural barriers to its growth.
Other Researchers
The Negro and MIT
Article
1960s

The Negro and MIT, 1968

Student
An essay by MIT student Robert Fleming '71 published in 1968, examining the role and presence of Black students and faculty at the Institute during a pivotal moment in civil rights history.
Other Researchers
Victor C. Smith
Thesis
1930s

A study of homogenous combustion in gases, 1930

Student
The 1930 ScD thesis of Victor Claude Smith, one of the earliest Black doctoral graduates in chemical engineering in the United States, on combustion chemistry at MIT.
Other Researchers
Islandborn, 2018
Book
2010s

Islandborn, 2018

Faculty
A picture book by Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz, inspired by a child's longing for her Dominican homeland, celebrating culture, memory, and belonging.
Other Researchers
Thesis
1970s

Coping with Poverty and Prejudice: How Rural Blacks Adapt Environmentally to the Constraints of Society, 1978 [duplicate]

Student
A 1978 MIT thesis (alternate record) examining how poverty and racial prejudice shape the physical environments of rural Black Americans in the South.
Other Researchers
James Edward Young, 1946
Thesis
1950s

Propagation of sound in attenuating ducts containing absorptive strips, 1953

Student
A 1953 MIT doctoral thesis by James E. Young, who would become the Department of Physics' first Black tenured faculty member, on sound propagation in ducts with absorptive strips.
Other Researchers
Black Panther: Jungle Action (1973)
Other
1970s

Black Panther: Panther's Rage (1973)

Multiple
The 1973 Marvel comic story arc introducing Erik Killmonger, whose fictional backstory as an MIT-educated engineer shaped one of Black Panther's most enduring villains.
Other Researchers
Technology Review MIT News cover Jan/Feb 2018
Article
2010s

The Remarkable Career of Shirley Ann Jackson, 2017

Multiple
A Technology Review profile of Shirley Ann Jackson '68 PhD '73 — the first Black woman to earn a PhD from MIT — tracing her career in physics, policy, and university leadership.
Other Researchers
The present state of Hayti (Saint Domingo), 1971
Book
1970s

The present state of Hayti (Saint Domingo), 1828 [1971]

Faculty
A book offering a rare 19th-century firsthand account of Haitian agriculture, commerce, laws, and society, reissued in 1971 with context connecting it to MIT's history.
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
No results found.
There are no results with this criteria. Try changing your search.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Have a piece of MIT black history to share?

If you have an important item you believe the project should consider for its collection, please share it with the MIT Black History Project.

Share History