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
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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