"An important and timely volume that highlights the breadth and depth of Black women's and gender expansive scholars' contributions to political science. Black Women Talk Politics opens up possibilities and pathways for meaningful scholar-activism within and beyond the discipline and shows the generative potential of intentional, caring, well-crafted scholarly Black women's gatherings." — Robin L. Turner, Butler University

"Black Women Talk Politics makes a significant contribution—one that is both long overdue and remarkably forward-looking. Political science has often struggled to take seriously the lived experiences and intellectual labor of scholars from marginalized communities. Oral history, when used at all, has typically centered elite voices and reinforced disciplinary gatekeeping. Here, oral history is more than a methodological choice—it's a subversive intervention! By elevating storytelling, memory, and mentorship to the level of formal scholarship, the volume challenges dominant narratives about what counts as knowledge in the discipline. It models citation justice, archival care, and collaborative authorship as scholarly practices. It is ambitious in both content and form. It doesn't just profile individual scholars; it creates a living archive. It teaches. It remembers. It passes down knowledge across generations. And it does so while offering readers—especially students and early-career scholars—a model for how to do political science differently: with care, rigor, and a deep commitment to community." — Ray Block Jr., coauthor of Black Networks Matter: The Role of Interracial Contact and Social Media in the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests

"This book is for every single Black woman and BIPOC scholar who has encountered anything less than love in higher education. More than the documentation of an event or individual careers, Black Women Talk Politics is a world-building blueprint that demonstrates the necessity and radical impact of community care, truth-telling, and feminist praxis. Methodologically sophisticated and conceptually original, it upholds a sociality that will make it possible for more Black women, femmes, and queer and non-binary folx to build power through community. I expect many will follow this movement." — Ruth Nicole Brown, author of Hear Our Truths: The Creative Potential of Black Girlhood

Tiffany Willoughby-Herard is Professor of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and Professor Extraordinarius in the Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair at the University of South Africa. She is the author of Waste of a White Skin: The Carnegie Corporation and the Racial Logic of White Vulnerability. Lisa Beard is Associate Professor of Political Science at Western Washington University. They are the author of If We Were Kin: Race, Identification, and Intimate Political Appeals. LaShonda R. Carter is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Riverside City College. Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd is Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. She is the author of Re-Imagining Black Women: A Critique of Post-Feminist and Post-Racial Melodrama in Culture and Politics. Jessica Millward is Associate Professor of History and Core Faculty in African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Finding Charity's Folk: Enslaved and Free Black Women in Maryland.

In Memoria

"Writing Topics That Are to Their Heart and to Their Struggles": Pauline Manaka on Teaching Students to Trust Their Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard

"What Happens When Black Women Have the Agency to Tell Their Own Stories?": A Memorial for Ella Turenne
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard

Introduction

I'm Trusting You with My Story, Now: Using Oral History to Measure Impact, and Modeling Dignified, Respectful, and Rigorous Engagement with Black Women and Gender Nonbinary Scholars of Politics
Jessica Millward

I. Prayers of Invocation

1. A Different Drummer: Jewel Prestage and the Founding of the Association for the Study of Black Women in Politics
Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd

2. Seeding a Vision: The Scandal Conference and the UC Consortium for Black Studies in California
Aisha K. Finch

3. Changing Black Feminist Intellectual Life on Campus: The Black (Feminist) Thriving Chair
Jessica Millward

4. Spirit, Soul, and Love: "I'm Rooting for Everybody Black"
Anand Bertrand Commissiong

II. "Ain't Nothing Gonna Happen Unless I Decide... I Choose": Voting Rights, Elections, and Legislatures

5. Profile of Nadia E. Brown: Simultaneously Hyper-Visible and Invisible: Becoming a Black Feminist Political Scientist
Christine M. Slaughter
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Jessica Millward
Selected Publications

6. Profile of Angela Lewis-Maddox: "Getting a Seat at the Table": On Providing Advocacy, Visibility, and Equity for Black Women in Academia
Jordan Lynton Cox
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Selected Publications

7. Profile of Wendy Smooth: "I Had to Make My Own Path": The Discipline-Defying Work of Wendy G. Smooth, PhD
Mahaliah A. Little, based on an oral history conducted by Latoya Williams
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Lisa Beard
Selected Publications

8. Profile of Lisa Nikol Nealy: Straight Outta Mississippi: The Unapologetic, Transformative, and Audacious Influence of Lisa Nikol Nealy, PhD
Tiffani J. Smith
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd
Selected Publications

III: "Every Decision I Make Will Be My Own": Reproductive Justice, Sexuality, Black Health, and Wellbeing

9. Profile of Kimala Price: Teaching, Politics and Change: The Scholarship of Dr. Kimala Price
Mzilikazi Koné
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Lisa Beard
Selected Publications

10. Profile of Valeria Sinclair-Chapman: Dr. Valeria Sinclair-Chapman: Understanding the Significance of "True Representation"
Armand Demirchyan
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Selected Publications

11. Profile of Tonya Williams: Dr. Tonya Williams: Excavating the Intersection of Reproductive Justice and the Political Labor of Black Women
r eliot rae, based on the oral history conducted by Afiya Browne
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Lisa Beard
Selected Publications

12. Profile of Françoise B. Cromer: Saving Our Mothers' Bodies: Making the Lives of Black Women Matter: an Intellectual Biography of Françoise B. Cromer, PhD
Elizabeth Gowans, based on the oral history conducted by Cheryl Flores
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Lisa Beard
Selected Publications

IV. "To Come Through unto Life to Be": Fighting State Violence and Bearing Public History

13. Profile of Melina R. Abdullah: "Be Our Full Selves": An Intellectual Biography of Womanist Scholar Activist Melina R. Abdullah, PhD
Onyekachi Ekeogu
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd
Selected Publications

14. Profile of Tiffany Packer: Scholarly Activism: Concerning the State and the Africana Lived Experience—An Intellectual Biography of Tiffany Packer, PhD
Deanrea Sykes Jr., based on the oral history conducted by Anandi Rao
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Jessica Millward
Selected Publications

15. Profile of Kaaryn Gustafson: The Embodiment of Resistance: An Intellectual Biography of Kaaryn Gustafson
Matthew Dale, based on the oral history conducted by Damiyr Davis
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
LaShonda R. Carter
Selected Publications

16. Profile of Sharon D. Wright Austin: Intellectual Biography of Sharon D. Wright Austin
Melissa Harris
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Jessica Millward
Selected Publications

V. "My Name Is Peaches": Vernacular Worlds: Storytelling and Poetics, Music, and Aesthetics

17. Profile of Victoria Burnett: The Power of Embodied Activity in an Age of Impact Factor: A Biography of Master Storyteller, Folklorist, and Vocal Artist Victoria Burnett, MEd
Caroline Collins
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Lisa Beard

18. Profile of Natalia Molebatsi: Tuning Into Radio Silence: Natalia Molebatsi and Poetry's Power
Nyla Jones, based on the oral history conducted by Santos Roman
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Jessica Millward
Selected Publications

19. Profile of Malaika Mutere: Communicating the Oral-Aesthetic Perspective in Black Popular Music: An Intellectual Biography of Malaika Mutere, PhD
Rachael De La Cruz
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd
Selected Publications

20. Profile of De Anna Reese: The Power of Sister Scholarship in the Academy and Beyond: Exploring De Anna Reese's History of Black Women's Politics
Jordan Ashlee McCray, based on the oral history conducted by Jerome Dent
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Selected Publications

21. Profile of Lisa Anderson: Undisciplined Stagings: Black Women's Studies, Theater, Semiotics, and Representation— An Intellectual Biography of Dr. Lisa Anderson
DeAndré Augustus, based on the oral history conducted by Hafsa Mohamed/Xafsa Ciise
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd
Selected Publications

22. Profile of Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey: Culture First: An Intellectual Biography of Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey
Chasia Elzina Jeffries
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Selected Publications

VI. "Living Just Enough": Urban Studies / Spatial Meaning / Where We Do Our Work
23. Profile of Lilith Mahmud: She "Studies-Up": Objectifying Europe, Whiteness, and Regimes of Secrecy and Transparency
Mackala Lacy
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd
Selected Publications

24. Profile of Zenzele Isoke: The Black Feminist Political Storytelling Revolution of Dr. Zenzele Isoke
Gabriela G. Corona Valencia
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Selected Publications

VII. "Tears for Johannesburg": Violence / Re-Memory / History of Ideas

25. Profile of Evelyn M. Simien: "I'm a Social Scientist. That's the Hat I Wear": An Intellectual Biography of Political Scientist Dr. Evelyn M. Simien
LaShonda R. Carter
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Selected Publications

26. Profile of Duchess Harris: Continuing the Journey to Connect Past, Present, and Future Generations of African American Daughters: The Works of Duchess Harris, JD, PhD
Gina M. Newton
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Selected Publications

27. Profile of Francille Rusan Wilson: Singing Songs from the Past: An Intellectual Biography of "Searching Spirit and Skeptical Mind," Francille Rusan Wilson, PhD
George Anthony Pratt, based on the oral history conducted by Jaz Riley
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Lisa Beard
Selected Publications

28. Profile of Kathryn Sophia Belle: "A Moral and Deeply Personal Obligation": The Scholarship of Kathryn Sophia Belle
Lisa Beard
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
LaShonda R. Carter
Selected Publications

29. Profile of Linda Perkins: The Scholarship of Linda Perkins: Race, Class, and Gender at Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Nineteenth- to Twentieth-Century US
Christina Carney
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd
Selected Publications

VIII. "Peace Has Come to Zimbabwe": Internationalism and Anti-Imperialism

30. Profile of Cynthia Young: Developing a Praxis of Activist Scholarship: An Intellectual Biography of Cynthia Young, PhD
Yelena Bailey
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Selected Publications

31. Profile of Gladys Mitchell-Walthour: Despite the Risks Involved: The Scholarship of Gladys Mitchell-Walthour
Kat Cosby
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
LaShonda R. Carter
Selected Publications

32. Profile of Tiffany Willoughby-Herard: South Africa Is Not So Far Away: Black Women and the Politics of Knowledge Production— Intellectual Biography of Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, PhD
Annie Hikido
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Lisa Beard
Selected Publications

33. Profile of Shelby Faye Lewis: Making the Change Come: Dr. Shelby Faye Lewis's Transformative Career
Althea Rani Sircar, based on the oral history conducted by Genesis Lara
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Selected Publications

34. Profile of Kathie Stromile Golden: "The Walking Lady": The Peripatetics of Activism and Engaged Scholarship— An Intellectual Biography of Kathie Stromile Golden, PhD
Desireé R. Melonas, based on the oral history conducted by Johan Mosquera
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
LaShonda R. Carter
Selected Publications

IX. "Crashing Slowly, the Bugs Are in Me": What Is the Gender of Black Women's Studies? What Are We Fighting For?

35. Profile of Julia Jordan-Zachery: "How Are You Giving Away the Knowledge You Now Have?": Dr. Julia Jordan-Zachery and the Politics of Pedagogy
Rolda L. Darlington
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
LaShonda R. Carter
Selected Publications

36. Profile of Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd: She Is the Bridge Between Generations: An Intellectual Biography of Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd, JD, PHD
Françoise B. Cromer, based on the oral history conducted by Tommi Hayes
Note from the Archive and Discussion Questions
Jessica Millward
Selected Publications

Conclusions

"Yonder They Do Not Love Your Flesh": Mourning, Anti-Blackness, and Claiming All of Us
Jessica Millward, Sabrina Strings, Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, prepared by Tariq E. Edwards
Portal Work as Liberation Work: Let's Walk Through
Desireé R. Melonas
A View from the Conference Photos
Darlisa Ali
Conference Art
Mackala Lacy

Epilogues

"We Take Higher Education into Our Own Hands and Build Something Else in Our Own Image": Interview with Nadia E. Brown
Edited by Tiffany Willoughby-Herard and Lisa Beard, transcribed by India S. Lenear
Standing at the Crossroads: A Meditation on the Myriad Manifestations of Gratitude Through the Scandal in Real Time Conference
LaShonda R. Carter

List of Contributors
Index