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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Mind and Hand
Book
2000s

Mind and Hand: The Birth of MIT, 2005

No items found.
A 2005 MIT Press history of the Institute's founding, tracing the origins of MIT's motto 'Mens et Manus' and the vision behind America's first major research university.
Other Researchers
Report
1980s

The Racial Climate on the MIT Campus, 1986

Administrator
A report examining the racial climate at MIT, documenting the experiences of Black students, faculty, and staff and recommending concrete steps to improve the campus environment.
Other Researchers
Report
1970s

A Study of the Number of Black Graduate Student Applications for Fall, 1970

No items found.
A 1970 statistical study of Black graduate school applicants across 25 major universities, examining enrollment trends and barriers at the height of the civil rights era.
Other Researchers
Joseph Applegate
Article
1990s

Professor Joseph Applegate, 1997

Administrator
A Tech Talk article profiling Joseph Applegate, MIT's first Black faculty member and a pioneering linguist, published for African-American Heritage Month in 1997.
MIT Black History Project
Article splash
Article
1990s

A Break in the Pipeline, 1999

Administrator
A 1999 Technology Review article examining the underrepresentation of Black faculty and students in the academic pipeline at MIT and peer institutions.
Other Researchers
Brochure cover
Proceedings
1980s

1st National Conference on Issues Facing Black Administrators at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities, 1982

Administrator
Proceedings from the 1982 national conference examining the challenges faced by Black administrators working in predominantly white colleges and universities.
MIT Black History Project
Shorter Views
Article
1990s

The Rhetoric of Sex, the Discourse of Desire, 1992

Visiting
An article by science fiction author Samuel Delany, originally delivered as a 1992 MIT lecture, exploring the rhetoric of sex and the politics of desire in literary and cultural discourse.
Other Researchers
Ebony & Ivy cover
Book
2010s

Ebony and Ivy, 2013

Faculty
A history of how elite American universities including Harvard and MIT were shaped by and helped perpetuate the ideology and economy of slavery, by scholar Craig Steven Wilder.
Other Researchers
NACA Report: Dynamics of Mechanical Feedback-Type Hydraulic Servomotors Under Inertia Loads, 1953
Report
1950s

NACA Report: Dynamics of Mechanical Feedback-Type Hydraulic Servomotors Under Inertia Loads, 1953

Alum
A NACA technical report by MIT-trained aeronautical engineer Yenwith Whitney analyzing the dynamics of hydraulic servomotors used in aircraft control systems.
Other Researchers
Black entrepreneurship in the US: An historical appraisal, contemporary problems and future prospects (a study in demand for entrepreneurship), 1971
Thesis
2018
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Thesis
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.
Student
The Negro and MIT, 1968
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1960s
Other Researchers
1960s
Article
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.
Student
A study of homogenous combustion in gases, 1930
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1930s
Other Researchers
1930s
Thesis
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.
Student
Islandborn, 2018
Book
2018
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
A picture book by Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz, inspired by a child's longing for her Dominican homeland, celebrating culture, memory, and belonging.
Faculty
Coping with Poverty and Prejudice: How Rural Blacks Adapt Environmentally to the Constraints of Society, 1978 [duplicate]
Thesis
2018
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Thesis
A 1978 MIT thesis (alternate record) examining how poverty and racial prejudice shape the physical environments of rural Black Americans in the South.
Student
Propagation of sound in attenuating ducts containing absorptive strips, 1953
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1950s
Other Researchers
1950s
Thesis
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.
Student
Black Panther: Panther's Rage (1973)
Other
2018
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Other
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.
Multiple
The Remarkable Career of Shirley Ann Jackson, 2017
Article
2018
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Article
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.
Multiple
The present state of Hayti (Saint Domingo), 1828 [1971]
Book
2018
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Book
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.
Faculty
Characterization of polygrama green photopolymer for Compact Optoelectronic Integrated Neural (COIN) coprocessor applications, 2008
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
2000s
Other Researchers
2000s
Thesis
A 2008 MIT thesis characterizing a green photopolymer material for use in compact optoelectronic neural coprocessor applications in the Photonic Systems Group.
Student
A Bit More About Paul and Priscilla Gray, 2017
Article
2017
MIT Black History Project
2010s
MIT Black History Project
2010s
Article
A tribute to MIT President Paul Gray (1932-2017) and his wife Priscilla, written by colleagues who witnessed their commitment to the MIT community.
Multiple
Angolan Revolution - Vol. 2: Exile Politics and Guerilla Warfare, 1962-1976, 1978
Book
2017
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Book
The second volume of Willard Johnson's history of the Angolan revolution, covering exile politics and guerrilla warfare from 1962 to 1976.
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