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Dr. Keisha N. Blain: Black History Month Keynote
Dr. Keisha N. Blain, one of the most innovative and influential young historians of her generation, gave the 2026 Black History Month Keynote.
Dr. 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 (AAIHS). She is the 2022 recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
Her newest book, Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights (W.W. Norton, September 2025), explores the long and overlooked history of Black women’s global activism and their central role in shaping the modern human rights movement. Drawing on decades of archival research, Blain offers a sweeping narrative that centers women as architects of justice and freedom struggles across borders—challenging conventional accounts of who drives human rights progress and why.
