Joy James is the Ebenezer Fitch Professor of the Humanities at Williams College. James is author of: Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics; Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals; Resisting State Violence: Radicalism, Gender and Race in U.S. Culture. Her edited books include: Warfare in the American Homeland; The New Abolitionists: (Neo) Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings; Imprisoned Intellectuals; States of Confinement; The Black Feminist Reader (co-edited with TD Sharpley-Whiting); and The Angela Y. Davis Reader. James is completing a book on the prosecution of 20th-century interracial rape cases, tentatively titled “Memory, Shame & Rage.” She has contributed articles and book chapters to journals and anthologies addressing feminist and critical race theory, democracy, and social justice.
She is the recipient of grants, fellowships or awards from: the Fletcher Foundation; the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities; the Rockefeller Foundation; the Bellagio Fellowship; the Aaron Diamond Foundation/Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; the Ford Foundation; and the Gustavus Myers Human Rights Award.