Robin Kelley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robin D. G. Kelley
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Kelley in a 2014 interview
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| Born | Robin Davis Gibran Kelley March 14, 1962 New York City, US |
| Occupation | Historian and academic |
| Alma mater | California State University, Long Beach (BA) University of California, Los Angeles (MA, PhD) |
| Genre | History |
| Employer | UCLA |
| Notable works | Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (1994) |
Robin Davis Gibran Kelley (born March 14, 1962) is an American historian and professor. He teaches American History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Professor Kelley has taught at many top universities. From 2006 to 2011, he was a professor at the University of Southern California (USC). Before that, he taught at Columbia University from 2003 to 2006. He also worked at New York University (NYU) from 1994 to 2003. At NYU, he was even in charge of the history department for a year.
In 2009–10, Professor Kelley was a special visiting professor at Oxford University in England. He was the first African-American historian to hold this important position since it started in 1922. In 2014, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, which is a special award for people doing important work. He has also written a book about the famous jazz musician Thelonious Monk.
Contents
About Robin D. G. Kelley
Early Life and Education
Robin D. G. Kelley was born in New York City. He went to California State University, Long Beach, and earned his first degree in 1983. Later, he continued his studies at UCLA. By 1987, he had earned two more degrees from UCLA. These were a master's degree in African history and a doctorate in US history.
His Career as a Professor
After finishing his studies, Professor Kelley started teaching at different universities. He taught at Southeastern Massachusetts University, Emory University, and the University of Michigan. He then moved to New York University (NYU). At NYU, he taught classes on U.S. history, African-American history, and popular culture. He became a full professor at NYU when he was only 32 years old, making him the youngest full professor there at the time.
What He Studies
Professor Kelley spends most of his time studying American and African-American history. He is very interested in social movements that wanted big changes. He also looks at how politics and culture mix within African-American communities. This includes studying things like jazz music, hip-hop, and visual arts.
He uses ideas from Marxism, which is a way of looking at how society works, especially about power and money. He also uses a "surrealist" approach. This means he looks beyond the obvious to find deeper meanings. He has said he is "pro-emancipation, pro-liberation," meaning he supports freedom and fairness for all people. He also uses the idea of "racial capitalism" in his work. This idea explores how racism and capitalism (an economic system) are connected.
Books and Writings
Professor Kelley has written many books. They often focus on African-American history, culture, and how different races get along. Some of his well-known books include Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (1994). Another book is Yo' Mama's DisFunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America (1997).
He also writes many articles for different magazines and newspapers. You can find his essays in places like the Village Voice, Boston Review, and The New York Times.
Thelonious Monk Biography
One of his famous books is Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (2009). This book is about the life of the jazz musician Thelonious Monk. It won several awards, including "Best Book on Jazz." The family of Thelonious Monk gave Professor Kelley special access to old documents to help him write the book.
Other Works
In 2012, Professor Kelley wrote Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times. This book looks at how jazz music connects to Africa. It also explores how jazz relates to the time when African countries gained independence and the Civil rights movement in America.
He is currently working on other books. One is called A World to Gain: A History of African Americans. He is writing this with Earl Lewis and Tera Hunter. He is also writing a book about a journalist named Grace Halsell.
