DAVARIAN L. BALDWIN

Speaker + Author + Urbanist + Cultural Critic

DAVARIAN L. BALDWIN’s bio

Dr. Davarian L. Baldwin (he/him) is an internationally recognized scholar, historian, and public advocate. He is the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies and Founding Director of the Smart Cities Research Lab at Trinity College. A foremost expert on Black social movements and African American history, he is often called upon to consult on everything from the politics of reparations to the global impact of the Harlem Renaissance. His academic and political commitments have focused on global cities and particularly the diverse and marginalized communities that struggle to maintain sustainable lives in urban locales. Baldwin is the award-winning author of several books including In The Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities (2021), Chicago’s New Negroes: Modernity, the Great Migration, and Black Urban Life (2007), and Land of Darkness: Chicago and the Making of Race in Modern America (forthcoming from Oxford University Press). He also served as the consultant and text author for The World of the Harlem Renaissance: A Jigsaw Puzzle (2022). Baldwin’s research, writing, and commentaries have been featured in numerous outlets from NPR, NBC News, CNN, PBS, BBC, The History Channel, and HULU to USA Today, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and TIME. In 2022, Baldwin was named a Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey Foundation for his work in racial and economic justice.

Baldwin's recent keynotes and lectures include presentations for the Urban History Association Conference, Social Mission Alliance Conference, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, Faculty Senate Committee on Facilities at the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, Boston Athenaeum, and Havens Wright Center for Social Justice at the University of Wisconsin. Baldwin also leads community seminars as well as professional development workshops for school teachers with the NEH and the organizations Primary Source and Facing History and Ourselves. In addition to serving as a textbook consultant for McGraw Hill, he is currently formulating a video-based learning curriculum for The Great Courses series entitled How the Great Migration Changed America.

In addition to his other work, Baldwin sits on the Executive Council of the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (SHGAPE). He serves on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Urban History, The Journal of African American History, and The American Studies Journal. Baldwin is also co-editor of the Urban Life, Landscape, and Policy book series for Temple University Press and was appointed a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.

Get social with DAVARIAN L. BALDWIN

Academic Profile | Twitter

books by Davarian L. Baldwin

Davarian L. baldwin in the media

Recent Articles Featuring Davarian L. Baldwin:

• What Do Colleges Owe the Cities That Host Them? | The Chronicle of Higher Education

• Movement Economies: Making Our Vision a Collective Reality | Nonprofit Quarterly

• Higher Education Has a Tax Problem and It’s Hurting Local Communities | TIME

• Why We Should Abolish the Campus Police | The Chronicle of Higher Education
  
  

Podcasts with Davarian L. Baldwin: