Barbara Ransby

Barbara Ransby
Born (1957-05-12) May 12, 1957 (age 67)
OccupationAcademic
SpousePeter Sporn[1]
Academic background
EducationColumbia University (BA)
University of Michigan (MA)
University of Michigan (PhD)
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Illinois at Chicago

Barbara Ransby (born May 12, 1957) is an American writer, historian, professor, and activist.[2][3] She is an elected fellow of the Society of American Historians,[4][5] and holds the John D. MacArthur Chair at the University of Illinois Chicago.[6]

Ransby attended Columbia University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1984,[7] and completed her master's degree and PhD at the University of Michigan.[3] In 1996, she joined the faculty of University of Illinois Chicago, where she is professor of Black Studies and Gender and Women's Studies, and History at the university.[8][4][9] Ransby was elected president of the National Women's Studies Association for a two-year term, which began in November 2016.[10][11] She is an historian of the Movement for Black Lives.[12]

Ransby's academic work has featured biographies of 20th-century black women activists Ella Baker and Eslanda Robeson. In contemporary politics, she has been executive director of a non-profit organization.[1] Her daughter Asha Rosa Ransby-Sporn is as of 2021 a national organizing co-chair of the non-profit youth organization BYP100.[13][14]

In 1995, Ransby, together with other black feminists including Angela Davis, Evelynn Hammonds and Kimberlé Crenshaw, formed an alliance called the African American Agenda 2000 to oppose Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March, out of concern that it would further black male sexism.[15]

  1. ^ a b Keller, Julia (March 23, 2005). "The activist academic". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  2. ^ "Barbara Ransby | The HistoryMakers". www.thehistorymakers.org. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Barbara Ransby". aast.uic.edu. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "UIC professor named to Society of American Historians". Associated Press. May 31, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  5. ^ "Newly Elected Fellows of The Society of American Historians". Society of American Historians. April 30, 2020.
  6. ^ Rockett, Darcel (October 28, 2020). "UIC historian Barbara Ransby wants to change the world, and now is her moment". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  7. ^ "Columbia Daily Spectator 17 May 1983 — Columbia Spectator". spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  8. ^ "Barbara Ransby". gws.uic.edu. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  9. ^ "Ransby, Barbara | History | University of Illinois Chicago". Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  10. ^ "Barbara Ransby Elected President of the National Women's Studies Association". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. October 31, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  11. ^ "Professor Barbara Ransby Elected President of The National Women's Studies Association (NWSA)". aast.uic.edu. November 23, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  12. ^ Belsha, Kalyn (July 19, 2016). "Black Lives Matter builds on history of black organizing". Chicago Reporter. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  13. ^ "Asha Rosa Ransby-Sporn". In These Times. The Institute for Public Affairs. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  14. ^ Rockett, Darcel (October 28, 2020). "UIC historian Barbara Ransby wants to change the world, and now is her moment". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  15. ^ E. Frances White (2001). Dark Continent of Our Bodies: Black Feminism and the Politics of Respectability. Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-56639-880-0.