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
The study of a multiperipheral model with continued cross channel unitarity, 1973
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Thesis
A 1973 MIT thesis by Shirley Ann Jackson '68, the first Black woman to earn a PhD from MIT, on particle physics and the multiperipheral model.
Student
Tunneling density of states behavior in superconducting niobium-titanium, 1968
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1960s
Other Researchers
1960s
Thesis
A 1968 MIT undergraduate thesis by Shirley Ann Jackson on superconducting tunneling junctions, the first of her two MIT degrees and the beginning of a historic scientific career.
Student
Coping with poverty and prejudice: how rural blacks adapt environmentally to the constraints of society, 1978
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Thesis
A 1978 MIT thesis examining how poverty and racial prejudice shape the physical environments, homes, and communities of rural Black Americans in the South.
Student
The influence of meaningful citizen participation on the urban renewal process and the renewal of the inner-city's black community: a case study, 1969
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1960s
Other Researchers
1960s
Thesis
A 1969 MIT thesis by Reginald Griffith '55 examining how meaningful community participation can transform urban renewal outcomes in inner-city Black neighborhoods.
Student
Energy absorption and vibrational heating in molecules following intense laser excitation, 1976
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Thesis
A 1975 MIT doctoral thesis examining energy absorption and vibrational heating in molecules following intense laser excitation.
Student
Class Struggle: Poor, Black and Smart, An Inner-City Teen Tries to Survive M.I.T., 1994
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1990s
Other Researchers
1990s
Article
A 1994 Wall Street Journal feature following Cedric Jennings, a Black teenager from inner-city Washington D.C., as he navigates the pressures of MIT's first year.
No items found.
Symmetry Principles in Selected Problems of String Theory, 1973
Thesis
2017
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Thesis
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.
Student
Ebony Affair: Twenty Years of Ebony, 1995
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1990s
Other Researchers
1990s
Article
Program booklet for the 1995 Ebony Affair, MIT's 20th annual celebration organized by the Black Students' Union showcasing Black student achievement and community.
Student
Melissa Nobles: All About the Count, 2007
Article
2017
Other Researchers
2000s
Other Researchers
2000s
Article
A 2007 MIT News profile of political science professor Melissa Nobles, whose research on racial classification and census politics shaped policy debates internationally.
Faculty
Mens et Mania: The MIT Nobody Knows, 2011
Book
2017
Other Researchers
2010s
Other Researchers
2010s
Book
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.
Administrator
The Territory Between Us: A Report on "Black Women in the Academy..." 1994
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1990s
Other Researchers
1990s
Article
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.
No items found.
Black Firms to Share MIT Life Insurance Business, 1976
Article
2017
Other Researchers
1970s
Other Researchers
1970s
Article
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.
Administrator
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