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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Jim Gates
Thesis
1970s

Symmetry Principles in Selected Problems of String Theory, 1973

Student
A 1973 MIT doctoral thesis by S. James Gates Jr., the first thesis ever devoted to supersymmetry in physics, marking a landmark in theoretical particle physics.
Other Researchers
Ebony Affair 2016
Article
1990s

Ebony Affair: Twenty Years of Ebony, 1995

Student
Program booklet for the 1995 Ebony Affair, MIT's 20th annual celebration organized by the Black Students' Union showcasing Black student achievement and community.
Other Researchers
Melissa Nobles: All About the Count, 2007
Article
2000s

Melissa Nobles: All About the Count, 2007

Faculty
A 2007 MIT News profile of political science professor Melissa Nobles, whose research on racial classification and census politics shaped policy debates internationally.
Other Researchers
Mens et Mania: The MIT Nobody Knows, 2011
Book
2010s

Mens et Mania: The MIT Nobody Knows, 2011

Administrator
A behind-the-scenes memoir by MIT linguistics professor Jay Keyser, offering a candid and witty portrait of life at the Institute away from its public-facing reputation.
Other Researchers
Article
1990s

The Territory Between Us: A Report on "Black Women in the Academy..." 1994

No items found.
An article by scholar Saidiya Hartman reporting on the landmark 1994 'Black Women in the Academy' conference held at MIT, attended by over 2,000 scholars and activists.
Other Researchers
MIT meets with insurance companies, 1976
Article
1970s

Black Firms to Share MIT Life Insurance Business, 1976

Administrator
A 1976 MIT report documenting the Institute's decision to share life insurance business with two major Black-owned insurance companies as part of its diversity commitments.
Other Researchers
William Barton Rogers and the Idea of MIT, 2008
Book
2000s

William Barton Rogers and the Idea of MIT, 2008

Administrator
A book tracing the educational vision of MIT founder William Barton Rogers, placing his ideas about polytechnic education in the context of 19th-century American science and reform.
Other Researchers
Cover of Nature (September 2004)
Article
2000s

Inscribed matter as an energy-efficient means of communication with an extraterrestrial civilization, 2004

Alum
A 2004 MIT thesis exploring inscribed matter as an energy-efficient method for interstellar or long-duration communication scenarios.
Other Researchers
Holding the Center: Memoirs of a Life in Higher Education, 1999
Book
1990s

Holding the Center: Memoirs of a Life in Higher Education, 1999

Administrator
The memoirs of Howard Wesley Johnson, MIT's 12th president, reflecting on his career leading the Institute through decades of social and institutional change.
Other Researchers
Type
Timeline
Including the Excluded: Concepts for Successful Integration of the US Academy, 2014
Article
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Article
A lecture by MIT professor James Sherley on concepts for integrating underrepresented groups into the US scientific enterprise, delivered at a Johns Hopkins retreat.
Faculty
Civil Rights, the War on Poverty, and Black-White Convergence in Infant Mortality in the Rural South and Mississippi, 2006
Paper
2017
Other Researchers
2000s
Other Researchers
2000s
Paper
A 2006 public health study examining how civil rights legislation and the War on Poverty drove convergence in Black and white infant mortality rates in the rural South.
Faculty
Black Capitalism and Black Supermarkets, 1969
Paper
2017
Other Researchers
1960s
Other Researchers
1960s
Paper
A 1969 article by MIT economist Gordon Bloom examining the economics and social dimensions of Black-owned businesses and supermarkets in urban America.
Faculty
MIT's Black Hole: Dr. James L. Sherley is just the latest professor to protest the lack of Black tenured faculty at MIT, 2007
Article
2017
Other Researchers
2000s
Other Researchers
2000s
Article
An article examining the broader pattern of Black faculty departures from MIT, placing the James Sherley case in the context of a longer institutional history.
No items found.
An Avoidable Black Eye for MIT: Professor James Sherley Is Dismissed and His Laboratory Padlocked, 2007
Article
2017
Other Researchers
2000s
Other Researchers
2000s
Article
An analysis of the 2007 termination of MIT stem-cell researcher James L. Sherley, whose dismissal and hunger strike sparked a campus-wide debate on race and tenure.
No items found.
It's No Picnic for Black Faculty at MIT, 2007
Article
2017
Other Researchers
2000s
Other Researchers
2000s
Article
A 2007 study documenting that Black faculty represent only about 3 percent of MIT's total faculty, analyzing the barriers to recruitment and retention.
No items found.
MIT's Mea Culpa: Now, What About Black Faculty?, 1999
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1990s
Other Researchers
1990s
Article
A 1999 analysis of MIT's landmark report on discrimination against women faculty, and whether its findings would prompt similar action for Black faculty.
No items found.
The Scientific Development of the Negro, 1911
Paper
2017
Other Researchers
1910s
Other Researchers
1910s
Paper
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.
Alum
The Civil Engineer, 1946
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1940s
Other Researchers
1940s
Article
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.
Alum
The Desegregation of an Elite Economics Department’s PhD Program: Black Americans at MIT, 2014
Article
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Article
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.
Alum
The African-American Linguist Who Broke the Faculty Barrier at MIT, 1997
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1990s
Other Researchers
1990s
Article
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.
No items found.
The battle for ‘Trayvon Martin’: Mapping a media controversy online and off-line, 2014
Article
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Article
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.
Faculty
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