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Robin D. G. Kelley

ロビン・ディー・ジー・ケリー

Robin D. G. Kelley

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1962-03-14 （New York City）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
New York City (birth) → Los Angeles (UCLA faculty) → Oxford (Harmsworth visiting professorship)

Career

Occupations
Historian, Professor, Author
Active Years
1987-
Affiliations
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Southern California (USC), Columbia University, New York University (NYU), Emory University, University of Michigan, Dartmouth College (Montgomery Fellow), Brooklyn College (Hess Scholar-in-Residence), Rothermere American Institute (Distinguished Fellow)
Influenced By
Marxist theorists, Surrealism, Scholars such as Cedric Robinson (racial capitalism)

Education

California State University, Long Beach
Undergraduate (BA) / History / related fields (undergraduate)
Degree: BA
Period: 1979–1983
Year of Graduation: 1983
Country: United States
Earned Bachelor of Arts
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Graduate school (MA, PhD) / History
Degree: MA, PhD
Period: 1984–1987
Year of Graduation: 1987
Country: United States
MA in African history and PhD in U.S. history

Awards

Guggenheim Fellowship
2014
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: winner
PEN Open Book Award
Work: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original
Organization: PEN
Result: winner
Jazz Journalists Association Best Book on Jazz
Work: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original
Organization: Jazz Journalists Association
Result: winner
English-Speaking Union Ambassador Award for Book of Special Distinction
Work: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original
Organization: English-Speaking Union
Result: winner
American Book Award
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation (year unspecified)
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression

1990 History / Labor history

A historical study of Communist organizing and Black working-class struggles in Alabama during the Great Depression.

Labor movementsCommunismBlack working class

Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class

1994 Social history / Cultural history

An analysis of Black working-class culture and politics from the perspective of grassroots cultural practices and struggles.

LaborCultureGrassroots movements

Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

2002 Intellectual history / Cultural studies

Explores the Black radical imagination across culture, art, and politics, examining visions of emancipation and social transformation.

Radical thoughtImaginationEmancipation

Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original

2009 Biography / Music history

A documentary biography of jazz master Thelonious Monk, reconstructing his life and music with rich archival sources and cultural context.

JazzBiographyCultural history

Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times

2012 Music history / Cultural history

Examines the relationship between modern jazz and Africa during the eras of decolonization and the Civil Rights movement.

JazzDecolonizationTransnational cultural exchange

Bibliography

  • Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (1990)
  • Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (1994)
  • Imagining Home: Class, Culture, and Nationalism in the African Diaspora (co-ed., 1995)
  • Into the Fire: African Americans Since 1970 (1996)
  • Yo' Mama's DisFunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America (1997)
  • Three Strikes: The Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century (co-auth., 2001)
  • Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination (2002)
  • To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans (co-ed., 2000; two-volume ed. 2004)
  • Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (2009)
  • Surrealism - Black, Brown and Beige (co-ed., 2009)
  • Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times (2012)
  • The Other Special Relationship: Race, Rights and Riots in Britain and the United States (co-ed., 2015)
  • Walter Rodney, The Russian Revolution: A View From the Third World (co-ed., 2018)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Interdisciplinary historical writingIntegration of cultural and political historyNarrative informed by critical theory
Recurring Motifs
Jazz and music cultureBlack radical thoughtLabor and grassroots movements

Legacy

A leading scholar of modern American history—especially African American history and cultural studies—known for rigorous work on jazz, popular culture, and radical imagination, reshaping understandings of culture and politics.

Academic Societies

  • Rothermere American Institute (Distinguished Fellow)

Archives

  • UCLA Department of History archives

In Popular Culture

  • Media appearances including C-SPAN and NPR interviews

Quotes

  • I describe myself as a Marxist surrealist feminist — not just anti-something but pro-emancipation, pro-liberation.
    Source: Stanford Report (interview, 1998) (1998)

Trivia

  • Became the youngest full professor at NYU at age 32.
  • Served as the Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford in 2009–10; one of the first African-American historians to hold the chair.