Research Bio
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.
Research Expertise and Interest
social movements, visual culture, memory, photography, African American history and culture
In the News
Two UC Berkeley Faculty Awarded Berlin Prize
UC Berkeley’s Department of African American Studies Awarded $2.8 Million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
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
“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.