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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Song of the Water Saints
Book
2000s

Song of the Water Saints: A Novel, 2002

Alum
A debut novel by MIT writing professor Nelly Rosario tracing three generations of Dominican women across continents, blending poetic prose with the weight of memory and migration.
Other Researchers
Tackling Jim Crow
Book
2000s

Tackling Jim Crow: Racial Segregation in Professional Football, 2003

No items found.
A book documenting the history of racial segregation in professional football, with a focus on MIT alumnus William Arthur Johnson who broke the color barrier in the NFL.
Other Researchers
What Makes Racial Diversity Work in Higher Education
Article
2000s

The MIT Experience: Personal Perspectives on Race in a Predominantly White University, 2004

Administrator
An article by MIT's Clarence G. Williams reflecting on his experiences of race at the Institute, published as a chapter in a volume on diversity in higher education.
MIT Black History Project
Article
2000s

William Barton Rogers and the Southern Sieve, 2005

Administrator
An article examining the complicated relationship between MIT founder William Barton Rogers, his scientific career in the antebellum South, and the institution of slavery.
Other Researchers
The Serious Search for Black Faculty at MIT page
Article
1990s

The Serious Search for Black Faculty at MIT, 1995

Faculty
An article documenting MIT's 1995 efforts to recruit Black faculty, naming the eight tenured Black professors then at the Institute and examining the barriers to diversification.
Other Researchers
The Gilded Years
Book
2010s

The Gilded Years, 2016

Alum
A novel by Karin Tanabe based on the true story of Anita Hemmings, who passed as white at Vassar in 1897, with a fictional subplot involving her brother, a connection to MIT.
Other Researchers
HBCUs Facing the Future, 2012
Paper
2010s

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Facing the Future, 2012

Faculty
A 2012 study examining the challenges facing Historically Black Colleges and Universities and proposing strategies for their long-term sustainability and relevance.
Other Researchers
A Widening Sphere
Book
2010s

A Widening Sphere: Evolving Cultures at MIT, 2011

Administrator
A 2011 MIT Press book tracing the evolution of MIT's culture from its 1861 founding through more than a century of growth, diversity, and institutional transformation.
Other Researchers
Countless Connecting Threads, 2013
Book
2010s

Countless Connecting Threads, 2013

Administrator
A 2013 illustrated history of MIT celebrating the interconnected contributions of its faculty, students, and alumni across 150 years of science, engineering, and society.
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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