Black Thriving in America 2026 Report Released

USC Pullias Center for Higher Education's co-director, Royel Johnson, had the opportunity this week to present the inaugural Payne Center Jim Clifton Prize for Research Impact to Sir Angus Deaton, Nobel laureate in economics, who is a co-recipient with Justice Albie Sachs. Deaton was recognized for his influential research on poverty, inequality, health, and human well-being. Dr. Johnson also provided the closing keynote for their faculty research seminar.

Marcia Brissett Bailey is an award-winning author, informatist, educator and leading advocate for dyslexia, neurodiversity and intersectionality.  A Black British dyslexic woman of Jamaican heritage, she is the author of Black, Brilliant and Dyslexic and a Forbes featured writer whose work centres visibility, equity and lived experience leadership.   Brissett Bailey is a Registered Career Development Professional, multi award winner, Diversity Power List honouree, UEL Change Maker, Rising Stars Winner and recognised as one of the Top 50 Influential Neurodivergent Women in the UK.  She is Co Founder of BleND CIC (Black Leadership, Excellence and Neurodiversity), a community centred organisation amplifying Black neurodivergent voices and driving systemic change.  Her work spans education, careers coaching, public speaking and consultancy, with a focus on representation, intersectionality and authentic storytelling. Watch the full short film on Serendipity's YouTube channel today by visiting: https://lnkd.in/epvXundC Be a part of the project and celebrate your story.  For further information visit: https://lnkd.in/eYSjyvVj Making the Invisible Visible: Black Women 365 Days of the Year is an exciting initiative led by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage. Each day will showcase a different woman, whose story has shaped Black British or global Diasporic history; many of whom remain overlooked or under-celebrated in mainstream narratives. This will take the form of a rolling programme of short films, released throughout the year to keep these stories in daily circulation and to create an evolving constellation of leadership, resistance, artistry and enduring impact.

An excellent initiative from Adam Danquah: a monthly group, Black Men in Higher Education and Healthcare. Shomari Lewis-Wilson for your networks?

In 2019 I wrote an autoethnography on the psychological impact of being rendered a Black body out of place. It was a psychodynamically informed account of the maddening processes Black people in academia can be subject to. The paper was never published, but the processes I described – the diffusion of racism, hypervigilance and self-doubt, internalisation of the hostile environment, loss of individuality through racial projection, pressure to appear harmless, invalidation by apparent allies, self-exclusion, recursive psychological harm – and their systemic roots feel as relevant now as they did then. Perhaps more so. Recent events have shed light on the emptiness of Black progress in academia, where backstory and token representation trump interest in our capacity as scholars and any sense that we can be involved in the administration of universities beyond EDI. Having worked as a clinical psychologist and psychodynamic psychotherapist, I also know the related processes in healthcare intimately. For some time, I have been talking with colleagues about creating a space for Black men working across higher education and healthcare – academic, clinical and professional-services colleagues – to connect with one another. A space for honest conversation, mutual support and practical exchange; to think together about how we navigate these institutions, flourish within them, challenge what needs to change, and make the way clearer for our students, trainees and those following us into these professions. I have been inspired by the professional networks and forms of solidarity created by Black women in the face of their intersectional challenges. Black men may similarly benefit from a space in which our particular experiences can be spoken about openly. I am therefore starting a monthly group, Black Men in Higher Education and Healthcare, hosted from the University of Manchester. As a Black mixed-race professor, I have travelled some distance through these systems, with a great deal of help along the way. I want to offer that support to others – and to learn from them in return. The group is at an early stage, so its shape will be developed with those who join. If you are a Black or Black mixed-race man working in higher education or healthcare and would like to hear more, please send me a direct message.

There are conversations that are important because of the moment they capture - and then there are conversations that have the potential to shape what comes next. Our evening exploring Symeon Brown’s The Good, The Black and The Boujee was firmly the latter. Across politics, media, careers, relationships, discrimination and socialisation, we explored what it means to witness the continued growth and evolution of Britain’s Black middle class. For generations, the story of Black Britain has too often been told primarily through the lens of working-class experience. But as more Black people enter professional spaces, accumulate wealth, build businesses, occupy positions of influence and shape culture, a new set of questions emerges. What does it mean for Black Britain to become increasingly middle class? How do we navigate the opportunities that come with greater access, capital and influence? What does success mean when the structures around us have not necessarily changed? And, perhaps most importantly, how do we use the progress that has been made to create something more equitable, expansive and empowering for those coming behind us? The conversation cannot simply be about becoming middle class. It must also be about what we do with the access, influence and responsibility that come with it - and how we continue to shape the institutions, culture and society around us. At Sutm’Light, we recognise that this cannot be a one-off conversation or a single panel. The needle has to keep moving. We have to continue creating spaces where Black Britain can interrogate its progress, celebrate its achievements, challenge its contradictions and imagine what comes next. And that is why Symeon Brown’s work is so important. The Good, The Black and The Boujee is more than a remarkable piece of journalism. It is a significant contribution to the social history of contemporary Black Britain and, we believe, a catalyst for deeper conversations, greater understanding and meaningful change. Symeon, hats off. What a piece of work! This is only the beginning. The conversation continues.

This is for the Black woman who is excelling in college and exhausted at the same time. You have felt it. Walking into a lecture hall, a study group, or a campus event and realizing you are the only one again. The quiet work of navigating spaces that were not designed with you in mind. The second-guessing. The bracing. The loneliness that does not always have a name. That experience is real, it is valid, and it deserves more than just pushing through. BLKGRL@PWI is a closed 8-week group for Black women navigating predominantly white colleges and universities, led by Dr. Bianca Busch, MD, dual board-certified psychiatrist and founder of The College Psychiatrist. This is a small, intentional cohort, not an open drop-in group, so real trust and real growth can happen. You will walk away with real tools for the moments that wear you down, language for the experiences that are hard to name, and a community of women who understand without explanation. Because you deserve a space where you can exhale. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gJHEd8AF

I get star-struck. Not by celebrities or athletes, but by academics. I just read Shaun Harper's recent Inside Higher Ed piece, "The Absurdly Racist Notion That Elite Institutions Routinely Hire A-Minus Black Faculty." His response is basically a star-studded, alphabetized list of Black scholars at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and beyond. And he's clear that it isn't meant to be exhaustive. A lot of the people he names are friends, collaborators, and scholars whose work he admires. Reading it, I kept thinking: I know that work. I've read that person. I've learned from that scholar. The list also includes scholars whose work I now want to spend more time with. And it made me want to extend the exercise. What about the Black scholars doing extraordinary work at places that don't come with the same institutional prestige? I was the first Black faculty member hired into my program at a small liberal arts college, so this part hits close to home. I know what it can feel like to do this work without a Harvard or Stanford affiliation doing some of the legitimating for you. And, per NCES, this is within a professoriate where Black faculty remain a relatively small share of the whole. In fall 2022, Black women made up about 4% and Black men about 3% of full-time faculty nationally. There are brilliant Black faculty at regional publics, community colleges, HBCUs, liberal arts colleges, teaching-intensive institutions, and plenty of other places across the country. They're doing important scholarship. They're teaching. They're mentoring. They're building programs and communities. And many are doing it while still dealing with that same undertone: Are you really qualified to be here? Prestige matters a lot in academia. It shapes whose work gets amplified, whose names travel, and who gets seen. So I want to give some other folks their flowers too. Who are the Black scholars working outside the institutions that tend to get the most visibility who've shaped how you think? Name them below. I'll start in the comments. Source: U.S. Department of Education, NCES, IPEDS.

There are some experiences of being a Black woman in academia that you don’t always know how to explain. I’ve experienced being passed up for opportunities. There have been times when students have looked surprised when I’ve walked into a lecture room, moments that make you wonder who they expected to see when they walked through the door. And there are moments when you can be surrounded by colleagues, yet still feel alone. Not because there aren’t people around you, but because you’re navigating experiences that are difficult to explain to people who have never had to think about them. And sometimes, you just want a space where you can say: "You get it." This is part of why the Safe Space Initiative for Black Women in Academia is being created. I’m really proud to be part of the team creating this space. It has been really meaningful to hell bring this vision to life alongside Dr Ifeoma Dan-Ogosi, SFHEA , Olerato Ogotseng, PhD , CHINEDUM EKENE-SAMUEL BEng. , MSc, MNSE, PGCert LTHE, FHEA. And Dr. Tinkuma Edafioghor who believe that Black women in academia deserve spaces where they can connect, feel supported and have honest conversations about their experiences. On Wednesday 30 September 2026, we are officially launching the initiative at UWE Bristol , bringing people together to create opportunities for connection, support, honest conversation and community for Black women in academia across the UK. Come if you want a safe space for honest and inspiring conversations. Come if you want to connect with other Black women in academia. Come if you want to build meaningful connections and community. Come if you want to learn more about the initiative and what we hope to create. Come if you’re an ally who wants to listen, learn and discover how you can support. Come if you’re simply curious about what this could become. Come because you want to be part of the conversation. If you’re thinking, “I know someone who needs to be in that room,” tag them, share this post or send it to them. And if that person is you , I hope you’ll join us. Scan the QR code on the flyer to register.

Policy was personal to me long before it became professional. With many new people joining my network recently, I wanted to reintroduce myself through what has shaped the perspective I bring to this work. I’m Nana Afua Brantuo, Ph.D., a policy researcher, strategist, educator, and practitioner. My career has never been linear. I’ve worked across government, higher education, advocacy, research, consulting, and community-based spaces—as a policy manager, researcher, federal program analyst, professor, educator, and strategist. I’ve also spent much of my life navigating some of the same systems I study. I grew up (and still am) lower-income and worked throughout my education. I never really had the opportunity to simply be a student; learning, working, and earning enough to live happened simultaneously. That experience shapes what I notice, what questions I ask, whose experiences I center, and what I believe good research should accomplish. It is also why my work crosses fields. I’ve studied and worked across education, economics, housing, migration, labor, technology, and civil and human rights. I value quantitative and qualitative data equally. I believe communities generate essential knowledge and expertise, and policy analysis is stronger when the people most affected by our institutions are central to every stage of policymaking. This perspective has shaped work ranging from fair-housing policy tools and research on Black migration to immigration and human-rights reports, climate policy writing, and resources for community-driven campaigns. More recently, I’ve been supporting fellows through the National Black Worker Center Policy and Advocacy Institute and participated in the Feminist Economics School and IAFFE Annual Conference in Cali, Colombia—continuing to deepen how I think about economics, institutions, power, and public policy. LinkedIn is where I share much of my work, as well as my perspectives and analysis on the public-policy, economic, political, and institutional questions shaping people’s lives. To everyone who has followed, connected, read or shared my work, engaged with a post, or sent me a thoughtful message: thank you. I’m looking forward to learning more about the work and ideas across my network, too. And if something I share resonates with you, I hope you’ll read it, engage with it, and share it with others.

This is an interesting post and Medium article that prompts a number of insightful questions. One that I find myself considering: Does diverse representation within an organization necessarily translate to an inclusive culture? 👀