Tommie Shelby

Tommie Shelby (born 1967) is an American philosopher. Since

Tommie Shelby
2013, he has served as the Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African
and African American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard
University, where he is the current chair of the Department of
African and African American Studies. He is particularly known
for his work in Africana philosophy, social and political
philosophy, social theory (especially Marxist theory), and the
philosophy of social science.

Education and career

Shelby was the eldest of six children.[1] He was a self-described
"jock" in high school, competing in basketball and track.[1] He
earned his B.A. in philosophy from Florida A&M University in
1990 and his Ph.D. in philosophy with a certificate in cultural
Shelby at the Edmond J. Safra
studies from the University of Pittsburgh in 1998.[1][2] His
dissertation, Marxism and the Critique of Moral Ideology, was Center for Ethics in 2020
directed by David Gauthier. Born 1967 (age 55–56)
Nationality American
Before moving to Harvard University as an assistant professor in
2000, he was an assistant professor of philosophy at Ohio State Alma mater University of
University from 1998 to 2000.[1][3] He was the John L. Loeb Pittsburgh
Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard from 2004 to
Era 21st-century
2007. Shelby is the second black scholar to be tenured in the
philosophy department at Harvard. The first was Kwame Anthony philosophy
Appiah, now a professor at New York University. Region Western philosophy
School Africana philosophy
Shelby served as an editor of Transition Magazine and of the Du
Bois Review. In 2015, he was elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board.[4] Institutions Harvard University
He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Ohio State University
2019.[5]
Website tommieshelby.com (h
ttp://tommieshelby.co
Research areas and publications m)

Shelby is the author of We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity (Harvard
University Press, 2005).[2] The book discusses the history of black political thought from Martin Delany to
Malcolm X and extrapolates a new theory for black political solidarity consistent with liberal values of
individual liberty, social equality, and cultural tolerance. Orlando Patterson described the book as
"contest[ing] the movement's central claims at a level of sociophilosophical sophistication that one rarely
encounters."[6] Bill Lawson, in his review of Shelby's book in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews,
described it as a "provocative and insightful book." He continued, "Professor Shelby has done a great
service to both philosophical and historical academic studies... What makes this book worth reading beyond
the scholarship and its scholarly insights is Professor Shelby's attempt to move Black Nationalism into the
post-civil rights era."[7]
Shelby is also the co-editor of Hip-Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason with Derrick Darby.[1][2] In his
review of the book, Tommy J. Curry said that it is "...a great work that inhabits the tension between the
sterile thought of the academy and the rich lives of many young urban Americans."[8] Shelby also co-edited
Transition 99 with Henry Louis Gates Jr., K. Anthony Appiah and F. Abiola Irele, and is the author of the
entry on Black Nationalism in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online.

His second monograph, Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform, was published by the Belknap Press
of Harvard University Press in 2016.[9][10] His third book, The Idea of Prison Abolition, was published by
Princeton University Press in 2022.[11]

Shelby is the son-in-law of Harvard philosopher Thomas Scanlon.[12]

See also
Africana philosophy
African American philosophers

References
1. Phillip, Abby D. (2008-11-19). "Living to Learn" (https://web.archive.org/web/2018030403194
4/http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/11/19/living-to-learn-harvards-african-and/). The
Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original (http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/11/19/li
ving-to-learn-harvards-african-and/) on 2018-03-04.
2. "Tommie Shelby" (https://web.archive.org/web/20180304033242/https://philosophy.fas.harva
rd.edu/people/tommie-shelby). Harvard University Department of Philosophy. Archived from
the original (https://philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/people/tommie-shelby) on 2018-03-04.
3. CV in pdf format (http://www.tommieshelby.com/cv.html), Tommie Shelby website.
4. "Neil Brown of Tampa Bay Times and Tommie Shelby of Harvard University are elected to
Pulitzer Prize Board" (http://www.pulitzer.org/news/neil-brown-tampa-bay-times-and-tommie-
shelby-harvard-university-are-elected-pulitzer-prize-board), The Pulitzer Prizes, October 29,
2015.
5. "New 2019 Academy Members Announced" (https://www.amacad.org/news/2019-members-
announcement).
6. Patterson, Orlando (January 8, 2006). "Being and Blackness". New York Times.
7. Lawson, Bill (June 4, 2006). "We Who Are Dark (Review)". Notre Dame Philosophical
Reviews.
8. Curry, Tommy J. (2006). "Review of Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason". Kinesis. 33
(2).
9. Ryerson, James (2016-11-18). "Race in America After the Great Migration" (https://www.nyti
mes.com/2016/11/20/books/review/race-in-america-after-the-great-migration.html). The New
York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved
2018-03-04.
10. Semuels, Alana (2016-11-22). "Rethinking America's 'Dark Ghettos' " (https://www.theatlanti
c.com/business/archive/2016/11/rethinking-americas-dark-ghettos/508400/). The Atlantic.
Retrieved 2018-03-04.
11. The Idea of Prison Abolition (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691229751/th
e-idea-of-prison-abolition). 2022-11-15. ISBN 978-0-691-22975-1.
12. Waslh, Colleen (2008-11-06). "Looking at race, racism through a philosophical lens" (https://
web.archive.org/web/20180304033649/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/11/looki
ng-at-race-racism-through-a-philosophical-lens/). Harvard Gazette. Archived from the original
(https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/11/looking-at-race-racism-through-a-philosophi
cal-lens/) on 2018-03-04.

External links
Faculty page at Harvard.edu (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~phildept/shelby.html)
We Who Are Dark on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674019369)
'Living to Learn', (http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=525448#)The Harvard
Crimson profiles Professor Shelby, November 19, 2008

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