Celebrating Black History Month 2024

This list was prepared by Anthony J. Ratcliff, tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles.

Dr. Ratcliff earned a Ph.D. in African American Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2009. His dissertation analyzed the Pan-African politics of cultural struggle, with particular attention paid to the international dimensions of the Black Arts Movement. As a critical Hip Hop educator and radical historian, Anthony's scholar-activist research and teaching interests include revolutionary Black arts and politics; Black anti-authoritarian and autonomous movements; Black feminist theory and praxis; decolonial activism and organizing; the impact of capitalism and mass incarceration on Hip Hop cultural production, and the abolition of policing and prisons.

Anthony's articles on Pan-Africanism, Afro-Latinx cultural politics, Hip Hop, and other topics have appeared in numerous venues, including the Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism, Journal of Pan African Studies, the International Journal of Africana Studies, the Black Scholar, An Encyclopedia of African American Literature, and elsewhere. 

When not in the classroom or mentoring students, Anthony is the Chapter President of the California Faculty Association (CFA), Los Angeles, as well as the chair of the Educational Justice and Solidarity Committee. Moreover, he is the faculty advisor to the Students for Quality Education (SQE) at Cal State LA. In addition, Anthony's an organizer with the IWW Educational Workers IU 620 and the Leimert Park Mutual Aid Organizing Committee.