February 29, 2020
Contact: press@berniesanders.com BOSTON – More than 100 Black scholars, writers and educators on Saturday announced in a joint letter their support of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign for President. The group cites the senator’s consistent record, intersectional policy proposals and leadership as reasons they back Sanders.“A Sanders presidency would go a long way toward creating a safer and more just world,” the letter says. “The commitment to free college education, the elimination of student debt which so many of our students suffer under, and the enfranchisement of incarcerated citizens, are only some of the reasons we have come to this conclusion. His support of a commission to study reparations for slavery is another reason for our decision, as well as his staunch commitment to the needs of poor and working people over the course of his career.”The letter of support comes on the heels of a recent Reuters poll showing Sen. Sanders leading the national primary field among Black voters, with twenty-six percent saying they support Sanders.

Dr. Barbara Ransby, one of the organizers of the endorsement effort and author of the award-winning biography on civil rights leader, Ella Baker, said that: “It is Black History Month. This is an historic election. We wanted to make our voices heard as scholars who write, research and teach about the struggles of Black people in this country. We feel the platform of the Sanders campaign and the movement his campaign is building offer the best hope for the future in terms of racial, economic and gender justice and for peace.”

The text of the letter and the full slate of endorsements is below.

We are Black scholars, writers and educators whose careers have been devoted to uncovering, analyzing, telling the stories, and uplifting the cultures of African Americans and peoples of the African Diaspora. We are also deeply invested in the freedom of our people and the subjects of our research.

1. Beatrice J. Adams, Doctoral candidate, History, Rutgers Unviersity
2. Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd, J.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Rutgers University
3. Laylah Ali, Professor of Art, Williams College
4. Abdul Alkalimat, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
5. Sam Anderson, Center for the Advancement of Black Education
6. Herman L. Bennett, Professor of History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York
7. Carwil Bjork-James, Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University
8. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Professor, Sociology, Duke University
9. Carole Boyce Davies, Professor of English and Africana Studies, Cornell University
10. Lisa Brock, Associate Professor of History, Kalamazoo College
11. Elsa Barkley Brown, Associate Professor of History and Women’s Studies, University of Maryland College Park
12. Nicole A. Burrowes, Assistant Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies Department, University of Texas, Austin
13. Linda E. Carty, Associate Professor, African American Studies, Syracuse University
14. Rosa Clemente, Professor, Independent Journalist, Producer
15. Matthew Countryman, Associate Professor, Departments of History and American Culture University of Michigan
16. Dana-Ain Davis, Professor, City University of New York
17. Michael Dawson, John D. MacArthur Professor of Political Science and the College, University of Chicago
18. Frank Deale, Professor of Law, City University of New York Law School
19. Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt, Ph.D. Student, Michigan State University
20. James Counts Early, Former Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service Smithsonian Institution
21. Erica R. Edwards, Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
22. Ashley D. Farmer Ph.D., Assistant Professor, History & African & African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas-Austin
23. Crystal N. Feimster, Professor, Yale University, African American Studies Department American Studies Program, History Department, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program
24. Jonathan Fenderson, Assistant Professor of African & African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis and Associate Editor, The Black Scholar
25. Johanna Fernández, PhD, Department of History, Baruch College, City University of New York
26. Bill Fletcher Jr., Independent Scholar and Author, Executive Editor, Global African Worker
27. Tyrone Forman, Professor, African American Studies and Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago
28. Paul Foster, MPA, Emerita Clinical Co-ordinator, Harlem Physician Assistant Program, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, CCNY
29. Olubukola Gbadegesin, Associate Professor, African American Studies and Art History, Saint Louis University
30. Adom Getachew, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Political Science and the College, University of Chicago
31. Keedra Gibba, Teacher of History and Social Studies, Francis W. Parker School, Chicago
32. Dayo Gore, Professor, Ethnic Studies and Critical Gender Studies, University of California, San Diego
33. Cecilia A. Green, Associate Professor of Sociology, Syracuse University
34. Josh Guild, Associate Professor of History and African American Studies, Princeton University
35. Sarah Haley, Associate Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
36. Darrick Hamilton, Professor and Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University
37. Michael G. Hanchard, Gustave C. Kuemmerle Professor and Chair of the Department of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania
38. Diane Harriford, Professor, Department of Sociology, Vassar College
39. Cheryl I. Harris, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
40. Faye V. Harrison, Professor of African American Studies and Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
41. Renee Camille Hatcher, Assistant Professor of Law, John Marshall, University of Illinois at Chicago
42. Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Professor and Thomas E. Lifka Chair in History, University of California, Los Angeles
43. Marc Lamont Hill, Professor and the Steve Charles Chair in Media, Cities and Solutions, College of Media and Education, Temple University
44. Elizabeth Hinton, Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Harvard University
45. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies, University of Houston
46. Zenzele Isoke, Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, University of Minnesota
47. Lynette A. Jackson, Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies and Black Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago
48. Joy James, Ebenzer Fitch Professor of the Humanities, Williams College
49. Destin Jenkins, Assistant Professor of History, University of Chicago
50. Ryan Cecil Jobson, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor, Anthropology, University of Chicago
51. Cheryl Johnson-Odim, Ph.D., Provost Emerita and Professor of History, Dominican University, Illinois
52. Tracey Johnson, Ph.D. candidate, Rutgers University
53. Robin D.G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, University of California, Los Angeles
54. Ainsley LeSure, Assistant Professor of Politics, Black Studies Advisory Council, Occidental College
55. La TaSha Levy, Assistant Professor of American Ethnic Studies, University of Washington-Seattle
56. R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy, Associate Professor, New York University
57. Toussaint Losier, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts – Amherst
58. Sheldon Bernard Lyke, Assistant Professor at Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law
59. Minkah Makalani, Director of the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, University of Texas at Austin
60. Austin McCoy, Assistant Professor of History, Auburn University
61. Deborah E. McDowell, Alice Griffin Professor of English, Director, Carter G. Woodson Institute, University of Virginia
62. Erik S. McDuffie, Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
63. Mireille Miller-Young, Associate Professor, Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
64. Quincy T. Mills, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park
65. Leith Mullings, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emerita, Graduate Center, City University of New York
66. Donna Murch, Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University
67. Linda Rae Murray, M.D., MPH, Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago
68. Premilla Nadasen, Professor of History, Barnard College, and President of the National Women’s Studies Association (2018 -2020)
69. Celia E. Naylor, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, Barnard College, Columbia University
70. Rosemary Ndubuizu, Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Scholar, Washington, D.C.
71. Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African American Studies, Duke University
72. Prexy Rozell Nesbitt, Presidential Fellow, Chapman University
73. Margo Okazawa-Rey, Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair, Mills College & Professor Emerita, San Francisco State University
74. James Padilioni, Jr, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion, Swarthmore College
75. Melina Pappademos, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, University of Connecticut
76. Kaneesha Cherelle Parsard, Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow, English, University of Chicago
77. Tianna S. Paschel, Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley
78. Earl Picard, Independent Scholar, Atlanta, Georgia
79. Steven C. Pitts, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education
80. Sherie M. Randolph, Associate Professor of History, Georgia Institute of Technology
81. Barbara Ransby, Distinguished Professor, African American Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies and History, University of Illinois at Chicago
82. Ismail Rashid, Professor of History, Vassar College
83. Aisha Ray, Professor Emerita, Erikson Institute
84. Shana L. Redmond, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
85. Russell Rickford, Associate Professor of History, Cornell University
86. J. T. Roan, Assistant Professor of African American Studies, School of Transformation, Arizona State University
87. Francesca T. Royster, Professor, DePaul University
88. Tanya L. Saunders, Associate Professor, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida
89. Kesho Yvonne Scott, Professor Emerita, Grinnell College
90. Barbara Smith, Independent Scholar, Albany, New York
91. Lester Spence, Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies, Johns Hopkins University
92. Robyn C. Spencer, Associate Professor, Lehman College, City University of New York
93. David Stovall, Professor, Black Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago
94. Stacey Sutton, Assistant Professor, Urban Planning & Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago
95. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Assistant Professor, Department of African American Studies, Princeton University
96. Ula Y. Taylor, Professor of African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley
97. Alia R. Tyner-Mullings, Associate Professor, Sociology, Guttman Community College, City University of New York
98. Melissa M. Valle, Assistant Professor, Sociology and African American Studies, Rutgers University-Newark
99. Stephen Ward, Department of Afroamerican & African Studies (DAAS), Residential College, University of Michigan
100. Jakobi Williams, Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor, Indiana University
101. Naomi R. Williams, PhD, Assistant Professor, Rutgers University
102. Hazel Carby, Charles C & Dorathea S Dilley Professor of African American Studies & American Studies at Yale University.
103. George Yancy, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy, Emory University
104. Jasmine K. Syedullah, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Vassar College