Barbara Ransby

She is best known for her award-winning biography of civil rights icon, Ella Baker, entitled, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (University of North Carolina, 2003), which won no less than six major awards. Her second award-winning book is Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson, published by Yale University Press. Her most recent book is Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the 21^st Century (University of California Press).

Dr. Ransby is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in the Departments of African American Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, and History, where she serves as founding director of UIC’s Social Justice Initiative. She is editor-in-chief of the journal, Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society; serves on the editorial board of the London-based journal, Race and Class; and publishes regularly in popular and scholarly outlets. She has lectured widely at conferences and on college campuses nationally and internationally. Dr. Ransby is the immediate past president (2016-2018) of the National Women’s Studies Association.

In terms of activism and community service, Dr. Ransby is on the coordinating committee of the newly formed Scholars for Social Justice, works closely with the Movement for Black Lives; and serves on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago. Dr. Ransby is the recipient of numerous scholarly and civic awards. In 2017 she was named one of the top 25 women in higher education by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine. Most recently she was honored with the 2018 Angela Davis Award for scholarship in the public good from the American Studies Association.