E’ry day this month, Philly’s 7th Ward, in partnership with the Center for Black Educator Development, will highlight a “Black Educator Hall of Famer.“ But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month. February is just the Blackest. Every day is an ongoing opportunity to learn and teach the colossal impact Black educators have had on society.
Dr. Karida L. Brown
Dr. Karida Brown is an educator, public speaker, author, and humanist. She is known for empowering her readership, students, and organizations to be active participants in driving equity and justice. Born and raised in Uniondale, New York, her work as a researcher and public intellectual centers on speaking to the fullness of Black life within an anti-Black society.
Dr. Brown is a graduate of Uniondale High School. She attended and graduated from Temple University, majoring in risk management and insurance. Upon graduation, she entered the commercial insurance industry. However, she made a career pivot and decided to enter the academy. Dr. Brown returned to school and received her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her doctorate in sociology from Brown University.
Her dissertation, The Ties that Bind: the Intergenerational Migration of Kentucky’s Coal Camp Blacks, won the 2017 Best Dissertation Award from the American Sociological Association.
Dr. Brown accepted a position at UCLA, where she became a tenured professor of African American Studies and Sociology. But she chose not to hide there. She engaged in practical work. In the aftermath of the George Floyd murder, she became the inaugural director of racial equity and action for the Los Angeles Lakers. She had the opportunity to work with players, coaches, and executives to answer whether the Lakers were a non-racist or anti-racist organization.
The work aligned with her research aims. According to Dr. Brown, she is:
“A historical and cultural sociologist whose research interests are centered on ontologies of race, racialization, and racism. The enduring questions that motivate my research agenda are: In the historical thrust of racial capitalism, how is racial difference invented, rationalized, and systemically imposed on human groups? And how do racialized peoples (re)make themselves within this dynamic context of systemic racism? While the former question concerns systems and structures, the latter [concerns] human agency. My research has examined these questions across a broad array of topics, including migration, education, collective memory, and social theory.”
Dr. Brown is currently a professor of sociology at Emory University’s College of Arts and Sciences, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on race and racism, sports and society, and historical archival methods. In addition to teaching and researching, Dr. Brown is a Fulbright Scholar and serves on the board of The Obama Presidency Oral History Project. She is the author of numerous books, including The Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois: Racialize Modernity and the Global Color Line, The New Brownies’ Book: A Love Letter to Black Families, and, most recently, The Battle for the Black Mind. She is a recipient of the 2024 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work—Non-Fiction for The New Brownies Book.
Dr. Brown’s dedication to Black people, telling Black realities, and detailing the genesis of modern-day racism and the fight for the Black mind and the Black body are proof that Black people can carve out space to dedicate labor to acknowledging who we are to one another. She is a modern example of choosing to resist unfulfilling work rooted in social structure in exchange for fulfilling work in building and uplifting community.
Happy Black History Month, make sure you read up on Karida L. Brown, a member of the Black Educator Hall of Fame.
