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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Ron McNair in The Physics of Karate, 1979
Article
1970s

The Physics of Karate, 1979

Faculty
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.
Other Researchers
Michael Feld and Ron McNair
Article
2010s

Counteracting Hate with Positive Diversity Stories, 2017

Alum
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.
Other Researchers
Soldiers' Home
Thesis
1890s

A Soldiers Home, 1892

Student
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.
Other Researchers
Dallas Brown
Thesis
1910s

Comparative wearing tests on different makes of globe and gate valves, 1910

Student
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.
Other Researchers
Page from The Negro Farmer
Article
1910s

The Negro Farmer [excerpt]

Alum
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.
Other Researchers
Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America, 2013
Book
2010s

Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America, 2013

Faculty
A history of Bengali Muslim immigrants in early 20th-century America, tracing forgotten communities in Harlem and beyond, by MIT professor Vivek Bald.
Other Researchers
Crazy Enough To Try, 2015
Book
2010s

Crazy Enough To Try, 2015

Alum
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.
Other Researchers
This Is How You Lose Her, 2012
Book
2010s

This Is How You Lose Her, 2012

Faculty
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.
Other Researchers
Phantasmal Media, 2013
Book
2010s

Phantasmal Media, 2013

Faculty
A 2013 MIT Press book by D. Fox Harrell examining how computing systems shape imagination, identity, memory, and social experience.
Other Researchers
A Model for Counseling “High Promise” Minority Freshmen, 1974
Article
2017
MIT Black History Project
1970s
MIT Black History Project
1970s
Article
A 1974 paper proposing a counseling model for high-potential minority freshmen at MIT, addressing retention and academic support for underrepresented students.
Administrator
Transient Workspaces: Technologies of Everyday Innovation in Zimbabwe, 2014
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A book by MIT professor Clapperton Mavhunga examining how everyday innovation and African mobility traditions shaped technology and knowledge in Zimbabwe.
Faculty
Some Moments in My Life, 2013
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A book of poems and personal reflections by MIT alumnus Wilfrid Amisial '72, drawing on his Haitian heritage and Caribbean roots in a collection touching on faith, memory, and joy.
Alum
Democratic Insecurities: Violence, Trauma, and Intervention in Haiti, 2010
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A 2010 MIT Press book exploring the ethics of military and humanitarian intervention in Haiti following the 1991 coup, focusing on trauma, violence, and insecurity.
Faculty
Megacommunities, 2008
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2000s
Other Researchers
2000s
Book
A 2008 book by MIT-affiliated authors on cross-sector collaboration between business, government, and nonprofits to address large-scale global challenges.
Alum
I Will Love You, Forever! --The Quantum Mechanics of Love, 2009
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2000s
Other Researchers
2000s
Book
A memoir by MIT professor James H. Williams Jr. about love, the nature of human connection, and whether mutually intense love can transcend death.
Alum
Water Marked: A Novel, 1999
Book
2017
Other Researchers
1990s
Other Researchers
1990s
Book
A novel by MIT professor Helen Elaine Lee about two estranged African American sisters who reunite to understand their father, written in lyrical prose balancing grief and beauty.
Faculty
The Properties of Violence: Claims to Ownership in Representations of Lynching, 2013
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A book by MIT professor Saidiya Hartman examining representations of lynching in American culture and the contested questions of ownership in the history of racial violence.
Faculty
The Politics of Official Apologies, 2008
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2000s
Other Researchers
2000s
Book
A book by MIT professor Melissa Nobles examining how official government apologies in the US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are deployed for political purposes.
Faculty
Aerospace Engineer Aprille Ericsson, 2015
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A children's biography of NASA aerospace engineer Aprille Ericsson, tracing her journey from science fair competitor to trailblazing rocket scientist and role model.
Alum
Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee: An African American Architect Designs for Booker T. Washington, 2011
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A book interweaving the life of Robert Robinson Taylor, MIT's first Black graduate and the first accredited Black architect, with the story of his 40-year career building Tuskegee Institute.
Alum
Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just, 1983
Book
2017
Other Researchers
1980s
Other Researchers
1980s
Book
A biography of Ernest Everett Just, the pioneering African American marine biologist whose extraordinary scientific career was shaped by racial barriers in early 20th-century America.
Faculty
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