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Noliwe Rooks is the L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, where she serves as chair of Africana Studies. An award-winning scholar, Rooks explores the intersections of education, beauty, race, and gender, and their influences on popular culture and social history in the United States. She is the author of six books, including Integrated: Schools America Failed Black Children, which was recently longlisted for the 2026 PEN America Galbraith Award for Non-Fiction. Her fifth monograph, Passionate Mind, Relentless Pursuit: Vision Mary McLeod Bethune, earned a nomination for the 2025 NAACP Image Award for non-fiction. Rooks received research funding from the Ford Foundation and the Mellon Foundation and has contributed to well-known publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR. She was inducted into the Society of American Historians and Morehouse College’s Society of Fellows in 2025. Rooks is actively engaged in research that combines demographics with themes of food justice, urban farming, and the socio-economic impacts of racial inequities. She currently teaches several courses focused on Black women's studies, racism, and public education in the United States.
Department: Department of Economics