Imani Perry

Imani Perry is a highly accomplished scholar and author, currently serving as the Henry A. Morss, Jr. and Elisabeth W. Morss Professor of Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. She has previously held positions at Princeton University, including as the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies. Perry earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from Harvard University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an LLM from Georgetown University Law Center, and a BA from Yale College in Literature and American Studies.

Perry has made significant contributions to the field of African American studies, with a focus on the history of Black thought, art, and imagination. Her work explores the ways in which Black communities have resisted and responded to social, political, and legal realities of domination in the West. She is the author of several influential books, including "Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry," which received the Pen Bograd-Weld Award for Biography, the Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award for outstanding work in literary scholarship, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, and the Shilts-Grahn Award for nonfiction from the Publishing Triangle.

Perry's scholarship also touches on issues of gender and liberation, as well as contemporary practices of racial inequality. Her book "Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation" is a work of critical theory that examines the formation of modern patriarchy and its evolution over time. Meanwhile, "More Beautiful and More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Inequality in the United States" offers an examination of contemporary practices of racial inequality that persist in spite of formal declarations of racial equality.

In addition to her academic work, Perry is also an accomplished author of creative nonfiction. Her book "Breathe: A Letter to My Sons" was a finalist for the 2020 Chautauqua Prize and a finalist for the NAACP Image Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. She has also published widely on topics ranging from racial inequality to hip-hop, and has been active across various media. Perry's work has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades, including the 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction for her book "South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation" and a 2023 MacArthur Fellow.