Barbara Ransby

Dr. Barbara Ransby is the John D. MacArthur Chair and Distinguished Professor of History, Gender and Women’s Studies, and Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago where she directs the Social Justice Initiative.

Dr. Ransby is author of two award-winning books: Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (University of North Carolina Press, 2003); and Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson (Yale University Press, 2013). She is also the author of a third book published by University of California Press in August 2018 entitled: Making All Black Lives Matter: Re-imagining Freedom in the 21st Century.

Dr. Ransby is a longtime Black feminist activist, author and scholar, and has received numerous awards for her work including the Angela Y. Davis award from the American Studies Association, Frantz Fanon Lifetime Achievement Award from the Caribbean Philosophical Association and the Freedom Scholars Award from the Marguerite Casey Foundation. In 2020, Dr. Ransby was also elected as a fellow to the Society of American Historians. She publishes widely in various scholarly and popular venues and is past president of the National Women's Studies Association (2016-2018). In 2017, Dr. Ransby was honored as “one of the top 25 women in higher education,” by the publication, Diverse Issues in Higher Education.