Charles Wade Mills (January 3, 1951 – September 20, 2021) was a Caribbean-American philosopher who specialized in political philosophy.[1] Mills was a professor at The Graduate Center of theCity University of New York (CUNY), andNorthwestern University. He made major contributions to critical race theory, most notably with his bookThe Racial Contract (1997). Born in London, Mills grew up in Jamaica and later became a United States citizen. He was educated at theUniversity of the West Indies where he received his bachelor's degree in physics, and theUniversity of Toronto where he went on to get his master's and doctoral degrees in philosophy.[1]
Charles Wade Mills was born on January 3, 1951, in London, England, to Winnifred andGladstone Mills.[2][3] His parents were graduate students in London and moved toKingston, Jamaica, shortly after he was born.[4] He grew up in Kingston.[5][6]
Over his career, Mills published six books and over 100 articles.[14]Shannon Sullivan argues that Mills's oeuvre can be understood through the concept ofsmadditizin, a word Mills used in the title of a 1997 article. Sullivan, quoting Mills, describessmadditizin as "the struggle to have one's personhoodrecognized" [emphasis in original]. She argues that, no matter whether he embracedMarxism, Black radicalism, or racial liberalism, Mills's work opposed the non-recognition of persons.[15] According to an obituary inCBC News, Mills is regarded as a pioneer incritical race theory and the philosophy ofrace.[6] Philosopher Christopher Lebron described him inThe Nation as a "blackSocrates".[4]
The role gender plays in race relations in Mills's work was addressed byKathryn T. Gines: "The racial contract and the sexual contract have been perceived as parallel non-intersecting universes and he [Mills] is providing a conceptual intervention."[18] Mills was aware of white female feminism and black female feminism and how both were perceived differently. Gines argues against Mills's point regarding non-white males non-participation in patriarchy: "I problematize Mills’s claim that 'race generally trumps gender' and argue for a more nuanced analysis of nonwhite men’s participation in patriarchy and privilege."[18]
Later in his career, according toTommie Shelby, Mills launched a sustained critique ofJohn Rawls'scontractarian theory of justice. Shelby notes that Mills rejected the Rawlsian turn toideal theory in political philosophy in favor of an approach that takes careful account of the realities of oppression.[19] Despite his critique of Rawls, however, Mills came to endorse a version of liberalism inBlack Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism, suggesting that the history of liberalism reveals the dismantling of social hierarchies.[20] ReviewingBlack Rights/White Wrongs inPolitical Theory, Ainsley LeSure observes that "[t]hough [Mills] acknowledges that racial justice need not be realized through the liberal tradition, he affirms that it can."[21]
Mills has been described as "Afro-Caribbean",[22] "Caribbean",[23][24] and "Jamaican".[25] He described himself as "Caribbean-American".[26]
In a 2014 publication, Mills stated, "I was a citizen of a small Third World country, Jamaica, which owed its very existence to … oppressive international forces."[27] As of October 2020[update], Mills was an American citizen.[5]
Mills was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in May 2021.[6] He died of cancer inEvanston, Illinois, on September 20, 2021.[2]
Mills, Charles W. (1988). "Alternative Epistemologies".Social Theory and Practice.14 (3): 237–263.ISSN 0037-802X.[37]
Mills, Charles W. (1994). "Do Black Men Have a Moral Duty to Marry Black Women?".Journal of Social Philosophy.25 (s1): 131–153.doi:10.1111/j.1467-9833.1994.tb00352.x.ISSN 1467-9833.[38]
Mills, Charles W. (1994). "Marxism, 'Ideology' and Moral Objectivism".Canadian Journal of Philosophy.24 (3): 373–393.ISSN 0045-5091.[39]
Mills, Charles W. (2003). ""Heart" Attack: A Critique of Jorge Garcia's Volitional Conception of Racism".The Journal of Ethics.7 (1): 29–62.ISSN1382-4554[40]
Mills, Charles W. (2005). ""Ideal Theory" as Ideology".Hypatia.20 (3): 165–184.ISSN 0887-5367.[41]
Mills, Charles W. (2009). "Rousseau, the Master's Tools, and Anti-Contractarian Contractarianism".The CLR James Journal.15 (1): 92–112.ISSN 2167-4256.[42]
Mills, Charles W. (2009). "Rawls on Race/Race in Rawls".The Southern Journal of Philosophy.47 (S1): 161–184.doi:10.1111/j.2041-6962.2009.tb00147.x.ISSN 2041-6962.[43]
Mills, Charles W. (2010). "Blacks and Social Justice: A Quarter-Century Later".Journal of Social Philosophy.41 (3): 354–369.doi:10.1111/j.1467-9833.2010.01493.x.ISSN1467-9833.[44]
Mills, Charles W. (2013). "An Illuminating Blackness".The Black Scholar.43 (4): 32–37.doi:10.5816/blackscholar.43.4.0032.ISSN 0006-4246.[45]
^Anievas, Alexander; Manchanda, Nivi; Shilliam, Robbie, eds. (October 30, 2014). "Unwriting and unwhitening the world".Race and Racism in International Relations.Routledge. p. 203.doi:10.4324/9781315857299-20 (inactive July 11, 2025).ISBN978-1-315-85729-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
