Jason Arday and Black Academia

Dear Hyphenly Readers,

Jason Arday, was 37 when he became Cambridge's youngest Black professor in 2023. He resigned after weeks of allegations of  plagiarism in his academic work and questions about his fundraising accomplishments. Arday denied the claims but was subjected to extreme media scrutiny. 

Arday resigned from Cambridge on August 5^th but said that his resignation should not "be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me". Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), which awarded Arday his PhD, also concluded that he had not plagiarized his work. 

Watch him talk about the normalization of racism in our times.

Tragically, Arday was found dead on Friday, August 14^th, after two weeks of vicious media coverage fueled by anti-Black sentiment. According to Al Jazeera:

Although academia is seen as progressive and left-leaning, historically, higher education has always upheld white supremacy. The systemic challenges, false accusations, and lack of opportunities faced by people of color have long been recorded. However, academics of color are the reason many countries have prospered. If you’re celebrating 250 years of the United States, then these are four Black academics you should know about:

Inez Beverly Prosser

Inez Beverly Prosser, was the first Black woman to get a PhD in psychology in 1933. She was born in Texas and educated in a “colored” school. According to the American Psychological Association, her dissertation “examined self-esteem and personality variables in matched pairs of African-American middle-school children, with half the children having attended segregated schools and the other half attending integrated schools in the Cincinnati area.” Her work was very influential in the hallmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling.

Charles Hamilton Houston

Known as “The Man Who Killed Jim Crow,” Charles Hamilton Houston was the first Black person to both serve on the Harvard Law Review and earn a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) from Harvard Law School. His experience of injustice led him to create the first Black law firm in Washington DC and he helped found the National Bar Association for Black Attorneys.  

Joycelyn Elders

Elders is an American physician and public health official who served (1993–94) as U.S. Surgeon General, the first Black American and the second woman to hold that post. According to Family Planning of South Central NY: “Elders sought to tackle pressing public health issues, including HIV/AIDS and substance abuse, with bold and progressive strategies. However, her outspoken advocacy for controversial topics such as sex education and drug legalization garnered intense criticism from conservative factions and the media.” Due to the pressure, she was forced to resign in 1994 but she continued her work at the University of Arkansas and Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

W.E.B Du Bois

The first Black American to earn a PhD from Harvard University, Du Bois published widely as a journalist and academic before becoming NAACP's (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) director of publicity and research and starting the organization's official journal, The Crisis, in 1910. He is most prominently known for introducing the concept of “double consciousness,” which described the experience of Black people who always have to look at themselves through the eyes of the racist society they are a part of.

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