Leigh Raiford | Research UC Berkeley

Research Expertise and Interest

social movements, visual culture, memory, photography, African American history and culture

Research Description

Leigh Raiford is a professor of African American Studies, where she teaches, researches, writes and curates about race, gender, justice and visuality. She is the inaugural director of the Black Studies Collaboratory, a three year project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She also serves as affiliate faculty in the Program in American Studies, and the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies.

In the News

Two UC Berkeley Faculty Awarded Berlin Prize

African American Studies Professor Leigh Raiford and Berkeley Law Professor Saira Mohamed are winners of the annual Berlin Prize.

UC Berkeley’s Department of African American Studies Awarded $2.8 Million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Department of African American Studies is excited to announce that it has been selected as one of sixteen recipients of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Just Futures grant. This grant is a collaborative effort to address racial inequality through new humanities-based research & solutions.

Prof traces role of photography in black freedom struggle

African American activists have long recognized the potential power of visual imagery to advance their quest for self-determination. Faculty member Leigh Raiford, in a new book, explores the role of photography in the black freedom struggle — from the heyday of the white lynch mob to the Civil Rights movement and the Black Power era.

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.

April 4, 2024

Welcoming Underexposed Black Photographers Into the Canon

The New York Times

Arthur Lubow

“Often we see photographs of demonstrations and confrontations between protesters and the police. Here you see the unsexy work of social movements," said Leigh Raiford, professor of African American Studies who edited the visual series.

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