Barbara Ransby
Ransby in 2025
Born	(1957-05-12)May 12, 1957 (age 68)
Occupation	Academic
Spouse	Peter Sporn[1]
Academic background
Education	Columbia University (BA) University of Michigan (MA) University of Michigan (PhD)
Academic work
Institutions	University of Illinois at Chicago

Barbara Ransby (born May 12, 1957) is an American writer, historian, professor, andactivist.^[2][3] She is an elected fellow of theSociety of American Historians,^[4][5] and holds theJohn D. MacArthur Chair at theUniversity of Illinois Chicago.^[6]

Ransby attendedColumbia University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1984,^[7] and completed her master's degree and PhD at theUniversity of Michigan.^[3]

In 1996, she joined the faculty of University of Illinois Chicago, where she is professor ofBlack Studies andGender and Women's Studies, andHistory at the university.^[8][4][9] Ransby was elected president of theNational Women's Studies Association for a two-year term, which began in November 2016.^[10][11] She is a historian of theMovement for Black Lives.^[12]

Ransby's academic work has featured biographies of 20th-century black women activistsElla Baker andEslanda Robeson. In contemporary politics, she has been executive director of anon-profit organization.^[1] Her daughter Asha Rosa Ransby-Sporn is as of 2021 a national organizing co-chair of the non-profit youth organizationBYP100.^[13][14]

In 1995, Ransby, together with other black feminists includingAngela Davis,Evelynn Hammonds andKimberlé Crenshaw, formed an alliance called the African American Agenda 2000 to opposeLouis Farrakhan'sMillion Man March, out of concern that it would further black male sexism.^[15]

• Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (2003, UNC Press)^{[16][17][18][19][20][21]}
• Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson (2013, Yale Press)^[22][23][24]
• Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century (2018, University of California Press)^[25][26]

• "Suffocate Black Women Voices" (1991)

• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1957 births
• 20th-century African-American people
• 21st-century African-American writers
• 21st-century American historians
• Living people
• Presidents of the National Women's Studies Association
• University of Illinois Chicago faculty
• University of Michigan alumni
• Columbia University School of General Studies alumni

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2022
• Articles with hCards
• People appearing on C-SPAN