"History is made by ordinary people but their role in this historical change is either hidden or distorted. I am most interested in making that history visible and usable. Scholarship at its best is accessible, digestible, and relevant and easily mobilized by those seeking to understand and change our current condition."
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is the Leon Forrest Professor of African American Studiess at Northwestern University. She is a scholar of racism and inequality in U.S. housing policies. Taylor critiques public-private partnerships in public policymaking and the influence of market-based solutions in resolving trenchant social inequities. Taylor also studies radical politics and Black social movements in the 20th and 21st centuries. She is the author of three books, including the award-winning From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation and Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership. “Race for Profit” was a semifinalist for the National Book Award and a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in History. She is a contributing writer for The New Yorker.
In this stirring and insightful analysis, activist and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor surveys the historical and contemporary ravages of racism and persistence of structural inequality such as mass incarceration and Black unemployment.
Race for Profit uncovers how exploitative real estate practices continued well after housing discrimination was banned.
What to learn more about the Freedom Scholars?
Questions about the Freedom Scholar awards can be sent to freedomscholars@caseygrants.org.
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR THE FREEDOM SCHOLAR AWARDS HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY THE INATAI FOUNDATION.
