Ibram X. Kendi, a renowned scholar and author who is a leader in the anti-racism movement, joined Boston University and the CAS Department of History in July 2020 to launch the BU Center for Antiracist Research. Kendi is the author of best-selling books How To Be an Antiracist and The Black Campus Movement, which won the W.E.B. Du Bois Book Prize, and is a National Book Award winner, in 2016, for Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. He comes from American University, where he taught international relations and history. In July, he received the BU’s Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities.

Kendi spoke to BU Today about the killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests, as well as how COVID-19 is affecting the Black community and his plans for the Center and multidisciplinary, anti-racism scholarship at BU. Over the coming months, more details will be announced about the new Center. You can read about Kendi’s career and work on his personal website.

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