Ibram X. Kendi, the leading scholar on anti-racist research and author of the bestseller “How to Be An Antiracist,” is set to join the faculty of Howard University before the fall 2025 semester, according to the Washington Post. Howard University, also known as “The Mecca,” is a pre-eminent historically Black university (founded in 1867) located in Washington, D.C., whose alumni list reads like a who’s who of Black America, including (and perhaps most famously) former Vice President Kamala Harris, and also Thurgood Marshall, Taraji P. Henson, the late Chadwick Boseman and Toni Morrison, among many others.
At Howard, Kendi will teach history and be the director of the tentatively named Howard University Institute for Advanced Research. The institute will focus on the global African diaspora. Kendi will also bring with him the digital magazine, The Emancipator. Kendi co-founded the magazine with the Boston Globe but it is currently an independent outlet. Kendi intends for his new institute to use The Emancipator as a resource to bring academic research on racial inequity to broader audiences.
The 2021 MacArthur Genius Grant winner comes to D.C. after having spent the past five years teaching and running the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. Kendi’s center came under scrutiny in 2023 over allegations of mismanaged funds but ultimately an investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing.
The move to Howard University serves as a homecoming of sorts for Kendi. Prior to his time at Boston University, Kendi was a professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and the director of the university’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center.
Kendi is the latest notable addition to the faculty of the illustrious institution. In 2023, fellow MacArthur Genius grant winners, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates, joined the faculty of Howard University; hires that according to the Washington Post, influenced Kendi’s decision to join the university. (Full disclosure, I’m also on the faculty of Howard University, though my hiring wasn’t nearly as high profile.)
For many Black scholars though, Howard University and its history serve as the biggest recruiter. The school’s impact and contributions to Black America are essential to the history of Black people in America.
“When you think about the Black scholars and Black thinkers who have contributed so much to my way of thinking, it’s hard to not think about Howard. It’s the most fulfilling career choice I’ve ever made.”
Kendi will begin his work at Howard University in the summer of 2025.
