 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Michael Eric Dyson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | (1958-10-23)October 23, 1958 (age 67) |
| Spouses | |
| Ecclesiastical career | |
| Ordained | c. 1977 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | |
| Thesis | Uses of Heroes: Celebration and Criticism in the Interpretation of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. (1993) |
| Influences | Manning Marable[2] |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Sociology |
| Institutions | Vanderbilt University |
| Website | michaelericdyson |
Michael Eric Dyson (born October 23, 1958) is an American academic, author,Baptist minister, and radio host. He is a professor in the College of Arts and Science and in the Divinity School atVanderbilt University.[3] Described by Michael A. Fletcher as "aPrincetonPh.D. and a child of the streets who takes pains never to separate the two",[4] Dyson has authored or edited more than twenty books dealing with subjects such asrace,religion and politics, as well as biographies onMalcolm X,Martin Luther King Jr.,Marvin Gaye,Barack Obama,Bill Cosby,Tupac Shakur andJay-Z.
Dyson was born on October 23, 1958, inDetroit,Michigan, the son of Addie Mae Leonard, who was fromAlabama. He was adopted by his stepfather, Everett Dyson, who married Leonard in 1960.[5] He attendedCranbrook School inBloomfield Hills, Michigan, on an academic scholarship but left and completed his education atNorthwestern High School.[4] He became anordainedBaptist minister at nineteen years of age.[6] Having worked in factories in Detroit to support his family, he enteredKnoxville College as a freshman at the age of twenty-one.[7] Dyson received hisbachelor's degree,magna cum laude, fromCarson–Newman College in 1985.[4] He received a Ph.D. in religion fromPrinceton University in 1993 after completing a doctoral dissertation titledUses of Heroes: Celebration and Criticism in the Interpretation of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.[8]
Dyson has taught atChicago Theological Seminary,Brown University, theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,Columbia University,DePaul University, and theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[4] From 2007 to 2020, he was a professor of sociology atGeorgetown University.[9] In 2021, Dyson moved to Vanderbilt University where he holds the Centennial Chair and serves as University Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies in the College of Arts and Science and University Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Society in the Divinity School.[3] Between 2016 and 2018, he was a visiting professor atMiddlebury College inMiddlebury, Vermont.
His 1994 bookMaking Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X became aNew York Times notable book of the year.[10] In his 2006 bookCome Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, Dyson analyzes the political and social events in the wake of the catastrophe against the backdrop of an overall "failure in race and class relations".[11][12][13] In 2010, Dyson editedBorn to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic, with contributions based on the album's tracks by, among others,Kevin Coval,Kyra D. Gaunt ("Professor G"),dream hampton,Marc Lamont Hill,Adam Mansbach, andMark Anthony Neal.[14] Dyson's own essay in this anthology,"'One Love', Two Brothers, Three Verses", argues that the current US penal system disfavors young black males more than any other segment of the population.[15][16] His last three books appeared repeatedly on theNew York Times Bestseller list.
Dyson hosted a radio show, which aired onRadio One, from January 2006 to February 2007. He is also a commentator onNational Public Radio,MSNBC andCNN, and is a regular guest onReal Time with Bill Maher. Beginning in July 2015, Dyson became a political analyst for MSNBC.[17] In May 2018, he participated in theMunk debate onpolitical correctness, arguing alongsideMichelle Goldberg againstStephen Fry andJordan Peterson.[18] In August 2018, Dyson spoke at the funeral ofAretha Franklin.[19]
The Michael Eric Dyson Show radio program debuted on April 6, 2009, and was broadcast fromMorgan State University. The show's first guest wasOprah Winfrey,[20] to whom Dyson dedicated his 2009 bookCan You Hear Me Now? The Inspiration, Wisdom, and Insight of Michael Eric Dyson. The show appears to have been discontinued, with its last episode being in December 2011.
Dyson served on theboard of directors of the Common Ground Foundation, a project dedicated to empowering urban youth in the United States.[21]
Dyson's general philosophy is that American black people are continuing to suffer from generations of ongoing oppression. OnFox News withTucker Carlson, Dyson suggested that white Americans looking for ways to counterwhite privilege could make individual efforts to contribute time and money to support local black communities.[22]
| Title | Year | ISBN | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism | 1993 | ISBN 9780816621439 | University of Minnesota Press |
| Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X | 1995 | ISBN 9780195102857 | Oxford University Press |
| Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line | 1996 | ISBN 9780201911862 | Addison Wesley |
| Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture | 1997 | ISBN 9780195115697 | Oxford University Press |
| I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. | 2000 | ISBN 9780684867762 | Free Press |
| Holler if You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur | 2002 | ISBN 9780465017560 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy | 2002 | ISBN 9780465017652 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Why I Love Black Women | 2002 | ISBN 9780465017638 | Perseus Book Group |
| The Michael Eric Dyson Reader | 2004 | ISBN 9780465017713 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye | 2005 | ISBN 9780465017706 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? | 2005 | ISBN 9780465017195 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Pride: The Seven Deadly Sins | 2006 | ISBN 9780195160925 | Oxford University Press |
| Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster | 2006 | ISBN 9780465017614 | Perseus Book Group |
| Debating Race | 2007 | ISBN 9780465002061 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip Hop | 2007 | ISBN 9780465017164 | Basic Civitas Books |
| April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King's Death and How it Changed America | 2008 | ISBN 9780465012862 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Can You Hear Me Now? The Inspiration, Wisdom, and Insight of Michael Eric Dyson | 2009 | ISBN 9780465018833 | Basic Civitas Books |
| The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America | 2016 | ISBN 9780544387669 | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America | 2017 | ISBN 9781250135995 | St. Martin's Press |
| What Truth Sounds Like | 2017 | ISBN 9781250135995 | St. Martin's Press |
| JAY-Z: Made in America | 2019 | ISBN 9781250230966 | St. Martin's Press |
| Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America | 2020 | ISBN 9781250276759 | St. Martin's Press |
| Entertaining Race: Performing Blackness in America | 2021 | ISBN 9781250135971 | St. Martin's Press |
| Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote | 2024 | ISBN 9780759557062 | Little, Brown and Company |
Editor
| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | American Book Award | Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster | Won | [23] | |
| 2004 | NAACP Image Award | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Why I Love Black Women | Won | [24] |
| 2006 | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? | Won | [25] | |
| 2007 | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster | Nominated | [26] | |
| 2008 | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip-Hop | Nominated | [27][28] | |
| 2021 | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America | Nominated | [29] | |
| 2018 | Southern Book Prize | Non-Fiction | Tears We Cannot Stop | Won | [30] |
2007 [...]Michael Eric Dyson, Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster (Basic Books)
