The Launch of Global Black Thought: A New Journal from Penn Press
After two years of planning and preparation, the new AAIHS journal Global Black Thought has officially launched! Published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, Global Black Thought is devoted to the study of the Black intellectual tradition. It publishes original, innovative, and thoroughly researched essays on Black ideas, theories, and intellectuals in the United States and throughout the African diaspora. The journal features historically based contributions by authors in diverse fields of study throughout the humanities and social sciences.
In today’s post, Kimberly Akano, a doctoral student in the Department of Religion at Princeton University and Social Impact Fellow at Penn Press, interviews Dr. Keisha N. Blain about the journal’s first issue and importance of this new journal. Blain, a Full Professor of Africana Studies and History at Brown University, is the journal’s Founding Editor-in-Chief. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow and Class of 2022 Carnegie Fellow, Blain is an acclaimed historian of the 20th century United States with broad interests and specializations in African American History, the modern African Diaspora, and Women’s and Gender Studies. She is the author and editor of eight books, including Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights (W.W. Norton, 2025) and Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018).
Kimberly Akano: Please tell us about the need you saw for a journal focused on the study of Black thought in both the US and throughout the African diaspora. How does the journal capture the breadth of Black thought in all its diversity?
Keisha N. Blain: Within the field of intellectual history, the study of Black thought remains underrepresented, and people of African descent are often marginalized, if not excluded entirely from mainstream narratives. Despite the critical role Black intellectuals have played— and continue to play— in shaping US and global political thought, they are often relegated to the sidelines. Global Black Thought provides an important corrective by centering the historical and contemporary contributions of Black intellectuals in the United States and in other parts of the globe. In addition to filling a major void, Global Black Thought opens new directions for writers interested in understanding the ideas, theories, and ideologies that undergird Black social and political life in both national and global perspectives.
The journal nicely captures the richness of Black intellectual history by featuring essays on Black thinkers from diverse social backgrounds and in various locals in both historical and contemporary contexts. Although we certainly value archival research–and we encourage authors to utilize historical methodologies when applicable–the journal features essays that are informed by scholarship in Africana studies, Sociology, Political Science, English and more. We also interrogate the lives and ideas of Black people in various parts of the globe, including Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. So, in terms of the diversity of approaches, topics, and regions, the journal certainly captures the breadth of Black thought.
Akano: What excites you most about this inaugural issue of Global Black Thought? What do you hope readers will take away from this first issue?
Blain: I am most excited about the fact that we have several first-time authors in this issue. One of the things that I especially appreciate about AAIHS is that we have worked very hard to provide various spaces to showcase new scholarship–and especially the work of emerging and junior scholars. To be sure, the issue features scholars of various ranks and with diverse publishing experience–including some prominent scholars who have published extensively in the field. That’s exciting and I think it speaks volumes to have these scholars in the same issue as talented younger scholars who are sharing their scholarship with a public audience for the very first time. As an editor, it was especially gratifying to work closely with new authors as they revised and polished their essays over the last year.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the generosity of so many scholars behind the scenes—especially members of the editorial board—who took such great care with the essays and offered constructive feedback. I hope the authors feel the same sense of pride and excitement that I feel–to see their work now in print and ready to circulate widely.
I hope readers will share this excitement and be inspired by this journal–as I have been. These are some dark times to say the least and so it’s especially wonderful to have this new space to elevate and celebrate scholarship that centers the ideas of Black people. I hope readers will enjoy the articles–not only for the innovative approaches and invaluable insights they offer, but also for the way they remind us about how much this work matters.
Akano: The issue includes an interview with Pero Dagbovie. Did anything surprise you about that conversation?
Blain: Pero Dagbovie is one of the foremost scholars in the field of Black intellectual history, and so I am thrilled that he agreed to do an interview for this inaugural issue. As I expected, the interview was so rich and generative and what I loved most about the exchange is how seamlessly he weaved various fields of study as well as various genres in his responses. I was pleasantly surprised that he quoted rapper RZA, which I read as a powerful statement about the groundbreaking intellectual contributions of Black rappers, poets, and other lyricists. Dagbovie would later reinforce this point in the interview, reflecting on Hip Hop history as one area that we still need to delve further as scholars of Black thought. I wholeheartedly agree with his observation and certainly hope those who work in this area will publish their work in Global Black Thought.
Akano: Which articles do you think are best suited for teaching?
Blain: I think every article in this issue works well for teaching. They are all very insightful, innovative, and well-written. I have already added several to my syllabi for the next academic year. Sabrina Evans’ prize-winning article, “Exposing the Racial Illogics of Jim Crow Segregation: Mary Church Terrell’s Situational Resistance,” is included on my syllabus for a graduate course on the history of Black Travel. Through a close reading of Terrell’s published and unpublished writings, Evans argues that Terell made an intervention into 19th and 20th century discourses on Black women’s presence in public spaces. The article pairs nicely with Miriam Thaggaert’s important book, Riding Jane Crow: African American Women on the American Railroad.
In addition, I have added Joseph Williams’ brilliant article, “Three Days in Boston: Nineteenth Century Black Women’s Intellectual Activism and the Case of John W. Jacks,” to my undergrad course on Black women’s intellectual history. The essay does a wonderful job of capturing early Black feminist thought and offers a window into the roots of intersectionality as a concept.
I also think Jordan Ealey’s sharp and innovative article on Zora Neal Hurston (“Sonic Secrets: Zora Neale Hurston’s Experiments in Black Dramaturgical Opacity”) would work well in a future ‘Intro to Africana Studies’ course. Ealey places Hurston at the center of musical theatre studies and in so doing, offers a new perspective on this beloved writer and intellectual. I am also eager to introduce students to the dynamic work on Black geographies through the powerful article, “Interjecting a Black Feminist Geographies Framework into Social Science Research Paradigms” by Christy Garrison-Harrison.
Akano: The release of Global Black Thought coincides with the tenth anniversary of the founding of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS). How does the journal relate to the broader vision and goals of the AAIHS?
Blain: When we drafted the AAIHS constitution in 2015, we emphasized five core values that would guide our work: scholarship, interdisciplinarity, inclusiveness, public engagement, and media. Black Perspectives has played a vital role in public engagement as well as media and scholarship. But tenure committees still do not value public writing as they do books and journal articles. So, one of the strategies that some scholars employ is that they publish short pieces and then work to expand them into longer works to publish in a journal or edited volume. This is certainly true for many writers on the blog. For so many years, we would watch scholars write great pieces for Black Perspectives and then struggle to find venues to publish their work. The peer-review process is imperfect and one of the challenges scholars have to deal with is gatekeeping as well as ill-informed—and sometimes inappropriate—feedback from readers who may not be invested in the production of quality scholarship on Black intellectual history. Global Black Thought brings together scholars who are deeply committed to this work from across the globe and we take seriously the submissions we receive. We can’t accept every article that comes our way, but if we decide to move forward with a submission, we offer constructive feedback and we try to do so in a supportive, rather than demeaning, tone.
To be clear, we still think there’s much value in the shorter (open-access) pieces–and we fully intend to keep producing those on Black Perspectives. But we are excited to offer this new platform to further advance our primary commitment to serious, academic scholarship. What is great about this arrangement is that we will be able to publish academic articles and then also publish shorter versions on our blog (as well as interviews) to further amplify the reach of the scholarship.
Akano: What can readers expect to see in future issues?
Blain: We have been very busy behind the scenes working on future issues that capture a range of topics, including Black transnational feminism and education. The Fall 2025 issue is a special issue edited by the talented historian Erika Denise Edwards, author of the award-winning book, Hiding in Plain Sight: Black Women, the Law, and the Making of a White Argentine Republic. This special issue sheds new light on the broad topic of race and identity in colonial Latin America and the Caribbean. It features interviews with Jennifer L. Morgan and Ben Vinson III–two pioneers in the field–as well as several original essays on early Afro-descendant thinkers in several locations, including Panama, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Peru. We are also excited to publish our first book roundtable in this issue—seven leading scholars shared their thoughts on Miguel A. Valerio’s groundbreaking book, Sovereign Joy: Afro-Mexican Kings and Queens, 1539-1640. I think readers will very much enjoy this special issue and it will be an invaluable resource for students and educators.
