Keisha Blain, professor of history and Africana studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, was recently named president of the Center for Engaged Scholarship, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting social science scholars whose work aims to foster a more democratic, more egalitarian, and more environmentally sustainable society in the United States.
As a historian of the twentieth-century United States, Dr. Blain focuses her research on African American history, the modern African diaspora, and women’s gender and studies. She is the co-editor of five scholarly volumes and the author of three acclaimed books, including her most recent publication, Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights (W.W. Norton, 2025). Dr. Blain also serves as editor-in-chief of Global Black Thought.Â
At Brown, Dr. Blain holds affiliate appointments in American studies and the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies. Before joining the faculty in 2022, she taught at the University of Iowa and the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Blain is a magna cum laude graduate of Binghamton University in New York, where she received her bachelor’s degree in history and Africana studies. She earned both her master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University.
