Princeton University Professor Awarded MacArthur Fellowship 2021

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton University professor and historian, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is among 25 scientists, artists, and scholars to receive the prestigious 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, the foundation announced.

The fellowships are awarded annually to people in various fields who have shown originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.

Taylor received the fellowship for her work analyzing political and economic forces underlying racial inequality and the role of social movements in transforming society. Taylor is a professor of African American studies at Princeton University.

"Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is a historian and writer presenting powerful critiques of the political and economic forces underlying racial inequality. Taylor brings her experiences as an activist and organizer for housing rights to her scholarship, combining deep understanding of the concrete manifestations of inequality—such as substandard housing, over-policing, and high unemployment—with fine-grained analysis and historical research," the MacArthur Foundation said.

Taylor is a scholar of racial inequality in public policy-making. She writes on race, politics, Black social movement, organizing, radical activism, and politics.

She is currently working on a project examining the retreat in the 1980s from the promise of civil rights, "alongside the emergence of widening chasms in Black America along social, economic and political fault lines," Princeton University said.

Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber congratulated Taylor for the award.

“Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s bold and original scholarship has established her as one of America’s most influential commentators on questions of race and social justice,” Eisgruber said in a statement. “All of us at Princeton applaud her well-deserved selection as a MacArthur Fellow.”