N.C. A&T Center for Social Justice Secures World-Renowned Scholar as Activist-in-Residence

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Oct. 1, 2024) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s Center of Excellence for Social Justice (CESJ) will host its inaugural Scholar Activist-in-Residence program for the 2024-25 academic year featuring internationally acclaimed scholar, author and speaker Daniel Black, Ph.D. This program will provide a unique opportunity for a scholar to teach, guest lecture and engage with both the campus and local communities. 

Black’s first campus visit will begin Tuesday, Oct. 8, and last through Friday, Oct. 11. During this visit, he will collaborate closely with students, faculty and community residents, delivering lectures and mentoring the next generation of Aggie writers and scholars. 

 A major highlight of Black’s visit will be a campus-wide lecture focusing on his latest research and the enduring legacy of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). This lecture will take place Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 3 p.m. in Deese Ballroom, 205 located in the Student Center.

Both lectures are free with no tickets or registration required. 

Black will also tour the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS), spending time with the English department to mentor aspiring writers. CESJ, housed within the college, will host a special meeting between Black and the Power of Four Research Fellows, continuing his legacy of mentoring young scholars. 

“Dr. Black has mentored generations of young scholars and has produced a litany of brilliant writers who have been impacted and influenced by his genius,” said Jelani Favors, Ph.D., CESJ director. “The campus and Greensboro community are in for a treat.” 

Black, a native of Kansas City, Kansas, and raised in Blackwell, Arkansas, earned his undergraduate degree from Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University), where he was awarded the Oxford Modern British Studies fellowship, studying abroad at Oxford University. He later received a full fellowship to Temple University, where he studied under Black Arts Movement poet laureate Sonia Sanchez, and earned his Ph.D. in African American studies in 1992. For most of his 30-year academic career, he has been a professor of African American Studies at his alma mater, Clark Atlanta University. 

Beyond academia, Black founded the Ndugu-Nzinga Rites of Passage Nation, an initiation society that promotes self-love and community-building among people of African descent. 

Black will return to N.C. A&T in January 2025 for a second residency period to continue his work with students, faculty and the surrounding community. 

For more information on Black’s residency or CESJ’s programs, email Favors at jmfavors@ncat.edu.