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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Report
1980s

Report on Issues, Implications and Recommendations Related to Retention of Undergraduate Minority Students: Science and Engineering Fields, 1987

Administrator
A report prepared for MIT by Clarence G. Williams examining retention barriers for Black and minority undergraduates in science and engineering fields.
Other Researchers
Discrimination Conference, 1955
Article
1950s

Discrimination Conference Issue of The Tech, 1955

Student
The March 1955 issue of MIT's student newspaper covering the National Conference on Selectivity and Discrimination in American Universities, held on campus.
Other Researchers
Tuskegee (Weather) Airmen article splash
Article
2000s

Tuskegee (Weather) Airmen: Black Meteorologists in World War II, 2006

No items found.
An article documenting the role of MIT-trained Black meteorologists, including Tuskegee Airmen, in advancing WWII weather forecasting and American military aviation.
Other Researchers
Article
2010s

Including the Excluded: Concepts for Successful Integration of the US Academy, 2014

Faculty
A lecture by MIT professor James Sherley on concepts for integrating underrepresented groups into the US scientific enterprise, delivered at a Johns Hopkins retreat.
Other Researchers
Paper
2000s

Civil Rights, the War on Poverty, and Black-White Convergence in Infant Mortality in the Rural South and Mississippi, 2006

Faculty
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.
Other Researchers
Paper
1960s

Black Capitalism and Black Supermarkets, 1969

Faculty
A 1969 article by MIT economist Gordon Bloom examining the economics and social dimensions of Black-owned businesses and supermarkets in urban America.
Other Researchers
Article
2000s

MIT's Black Hole: Dr. James L. Sherley is just the latest professor to protest the lack of Black tenured faculty at MIT, 2007

No items found.
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.
Other Researchers
James L. Sherley
Article
2000s

An Avoidable Black Eye for MIT: Professor James Sherley Is Dismissed and His Laboratory Padlocked, 2007

No items found.
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.
Other Researchers
James L. Sherley
Article
2000s

It's No Picnic for Black Faculty at MIT, 2007

No items found.
A 2007 study documenting that Black faculty represent only about 3 percent of MIT's total faculty, analyzing the barriers to recruitment and retention.
Other Researchers
Type
Timeline
Henry C. McBay: A Chemical Festschrift, 1994
Proceedings
2017
Other Researchers
1990s
Other Researchers
1990s
Proceedings
Proceedings of a 1994 symposium honoring MIT-affiliated chemist Henry C. McBay, featuring tributes from colleagues across the scientific community.
Visiting
Affirmative action got me into MIT. The cycle that disadvantaged me continues.
Article
2020
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Article
MIT alumnus Rodgerick Newhouse '97 reflects on how affirmative action opened MIT's doors for him, and why the systemic inequities that shaped his path have yet to be addressed.
Alum
On Indigenous People’s Day, Let’s Commit to an Anticolonial Mindset on Earth and in Space, 2020
Article
2020
Other Researchers
2020s
Other Researchers
2020s
Article
An essay by MIT student Danielle Wood calling for an anticolonial approach to science and technology on Indigenous People's Day, grounded in land acknowledgment.
Multiple
Maude Ross & Karen Ross Grant, 2017
Oral History
2020
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Oral History
A digital exhibit exploring the lives of Maude Ross and Karen Ross Grant, connecting the stories of two Black women across generations through a South Carolina archive.
Alum
My 21 Years in the White House, 1960
Book
2017
Other Researchers
1960s
Other Researchers
1960s
Book
The memoir of Alonzo Fields, a Black MIT service worker who rose to become Chief Usher at the White House, serving four presidents over 21 years.
Staff
Engineering while Black, 2020
Article
2020
Other Researchers
2020s
Other Researchers
2020s
Article
MIT alumnus Vincent Anioke '17, a software engineer at Google, reflects on being Black in the tech industry and the reckoning that followed George Floyd's death.
Student
A small-pond fish in the sea, 2020
Article
2020
Other Researchers
2020s
Other Researchers
2020s
Article
MIT biological engineering graduate Benjamin Oberlton '19 reflects on navigating MIT as a Black student before beginning his immunology PhD at Stanford.
Student
A front-row seat to #BlackLivesMatter, 2020
Article
2020
Other Researchers
2020s
Other Researchers
2020s
Article
MIT student Veronica Muriga '22 summarizes the 2020 petition supporting Black lives at MIT, offering a first-person account of the campus response to the racial justice movement.
Student
MIT and Black Greek Letter Organizations: An Interview, 2020
Article
2020
Other Researchers
2020s
Other Researchers
2020s
Article
A 2020 MIT interview with Black members of Greek letter organizations discussing the role of fraternities, sororities, and other groups in the Black MIT student experience.
Student
The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea, 2017
Book
2020
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A book by MIT PhD alumnus Christopher Lebron tracing the philosophical and intellectual origins of the Black Lives Matter movement and its roots in the tradition of Black political thought.
Alum
Our Country, ‘Tis A Thief, 2020
Article
2020
Other Researchers
2020s
Other Researchers
2020s
Article
A personal essay by MIT student Alula Hunsen examining systemic theft and exploitation as foundational elements of American prosperity, from slavery to the present.
Student
Peddler Dolls: Portraying Cryes of Old London and Itinerant Merchants of Early America, 1962-1973
Book
2017
Other Researchers
1960s
Other Researchers
1960s
Book
A scholarly study of peddler dolls depicting historical street vendors, connected to MIT research on trade, material culture, and Atlantic world commerce.
Alum
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