For Black History Month, Cornell’s Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures will host author and historian Dr. Keisha N. Blain for a keynote that reframes the history of human rights by placing Black women at its center. Her lecture, “Without Fear: Black Women & the Making of Human Rights,” will be held on Feb. 11 at 4:30 p.m. in Statler Hall, Room 196. The lecture is free and open to the public; registration is encouraged.
“Keisha Blain reconstructs vital histories that teach enduringly important lessons about the deep interconnections between global and domestic struggles for democracy, freedom and human rights,” said Jamila Michener, director of the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures and professor of government in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and public policy in the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. “Her careful, critical, and constructive perspective is a useful corrective to the dangerous impulse to erase pivotal actors from our shared historical record.”
In her talk, Blain will trace how Black women – from Ida B. Wells to contemporary Black Lives Matter leaders – have long used the language and practice of human rights to confront racism and white supremacy at home and on the global stage. She will explore how, despite being shut out of formal halls of power, Black women organized through global travel, the Black press, international advocacy and grassroots mobilization to advance freedom and dignity for all people.
“Through stories of both well-known figures and overlooked activists from diverse backgrounds, this keynote will offer a new, ground-up history of human rights thinking and action,” Blain said. “Audiences will leave with a deeper understanding of how Black women’s intersecting struggles against racism, sexism and classism forged enduring strategies that continue to shape movements for justice today."
Blain’s research and writing examine the dynamics of race, gender and politics in both national and global perspectives. She completed a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University in 2014. She is a professor of Africana studies and history at Brown University, a columnist for MSNBC, and former president of the African American Intellectual History Society.
Her books include “Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights” (2025), “Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom” (2018), “Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America” (2021); and five edited books. Blain’s writing has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, Foreign Affairs and more.
She is the recipient of more than a dozen prestigious awards and fellowships, including a W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship at Harvard University and fellowships from New America, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the Ford Foundation. She is also the recipient of a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.
The public lecture by Blain will be the culminating event in the Black History Month series organized and hosted by the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures. In late January and February, the Center is hosting community book reads for the Cornell and greater Ithaca communities for discussions on Blain’s newest book, “Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights” including events at the Tompkins County Public Library Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m. and at the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures Feb. 5 at 12 p.m.
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