Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor


Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an American academic, writer, and activist. She is assistant professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University, and the author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. For this book, she received the 2016 Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book from Lannan Foundation. She is the author of several books and articles that discuss her work in activism for black lives. Taylor is an activist for black lives and focuses her work in this area.

Education

While working as a tenant advocate, Taylor took night classes at Northeastern Illinois University. Taylor moved to New York City before returning to Chicago to complete her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2007. She earned a Master of Arts in African American Studies from Northwestern University in 2011.
Taylor earned her PhD in African-American Studies from Northwestern University. Her dissertation is titled Race for Profit: Black Housing and the Urban Crisis in the 1970s.

Career

Taylor previously worked at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of African American Studies from 2013 to 2014. Taylor is an Assistant Professor at Princeton University in the African American Studies Department. Opinion pieces authored by Taylor have appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Jacobin. Taylor has also appeared as a guest on Democracy Now!, NPR's All Things Considered, The Intercept podcast, Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes, and NBC News. Prior to its dissolution, Taylor was a leading member of the Trotskyist group, International Socialist Organization.

Activism

On January 20, 2017, Taylor participated in the Anti-Inauguration, organized by Jacobin, Haymarket Books, and Verso at the Lincoln Theatre on the same day as the Inauguration of Donald Trump. Other speakers included Naomi Klein, Anand Gopal, Jeremy Scahill, and Owen Jones.
In 2017, Taylor co-authored a call to mobilize a women's strike, which culminated in the Day Without a Woman on March 8, 2017. In articles for The Guardian and The Nation, Taylor defended the 2017 Women's March.
On May 20, 2017, Taylor gave a commencement speech at Hampshire College, in which she referred to President Donald Trump as a "racist, sexist, megalomaniac." Fox News aired a clip from the speech, after which she received numerous intimidating e-mails, including death threats. Taylor canceled scheduled talks in Seattle and San Diego as a result. In response, Jonathan Lash, the president of Hampshire College, released a statement on June 1, 2017, in support of Taylor and her speech saying that it aligned with the mission of Hampshire College.
On July 6, 2017, Taylor gave the speech at the Socialism 2017 conference in Chicago.

Selected publications

''Race for Profit: The Political Economy of Black Urban Housing in the 1970s'', 2013

Taylor's dissertation from 2013 when she was at Northwestern University. She discussed the actions after the 1960 urban rebellion by the government to provide affordable housing for African Americans. The goal of the dissertation was to see if the private housing industry could successfully find a solution to the 1960 urban rebellion. In addition, Taylor questioned the partnership of public and private sectors. She argued that these two sectors had different goals that work in opposition.

''The Anti-Inauguration: Building Resistance in Trump Era'', 2016

Edited by Anand Gopal, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Naomi Klein, and Owen Jones, this book brought together a collection of speeches from the 2017 Anti-Inauguration Event in Washington DC. The speeches discuss the Donald Trump administration and their policies. It discusses a resistance to the Trump presidency through existing movements by having these movements work together. The book was published on January 30, 2016, by Haymarket Books.

''From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation'', 2016

From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation was published on February 23, 2016, by Haymarket Books. It won the 2016 Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book. This book analyzed the political aspects of the BlackLivesMatter movement including the history of the connection between race and policing and how the movement is separated from black politics. The goal of Taylor's book was to discuss the history and motivation for the BlackLivesMatter movement and to consider if the United States is post racial. The book also looked if the movement can be applied beyond police brutality to wider spectrum of activism.

''How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective'', 2017

This book is composed of writings from the founders of the Combahee River Collective, which was a group from the 1960s and '70s of Black Feminists. The writings look at the Combahee River Collective's impact on today's Black Feminism. Taylor edited the writings together in 2017 and the book was published on November 20, 2017, by Haymarket Books. The introduction is an essay by Taylor regarding the legacy of the Combahee River Collective begins by framing her discussion in the 2016 presidential elections. Following the introduction is a republishing of the Combahee River Collective Statement.

''Fifty Years Since MLK'', 2018

The authors include Brandon Terry, Barbara Ransby, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and Bernard E. Harcourt. Published February 2, 2018, by MIT Press, this book discusses Martin Luther King Jr's activism and its impact on today's activism. The authors discussed MLK's work before his death and consider how history influences current activism.

''Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Home Ownership'', 2019

This book examines the roots of the falling homeownership rate for African Americans. The book has been longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award.

Professional affiliations