Dr. Robert J. Patterson is a professor of Black Studies and served as the inaugural chair of the Department of African American Studies at Georgetown University (2016-2019). He is the author Black Narratives of Slavery: a Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2026), Destructive Desires: Rhythm and Blues Culture and the Politics of Racial Equality (Rutgers University Press, 2019) and Exodus Politics: Civil Rights and Leadership in African American Literature and Culture (UVA Press, 2013), co-editor of The Psychic Hold of Slavery: Legacies in American Expressive Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2016), and editor of the award-winning Black Cultural Production After Civil Rights (University of Illinois Press, 2019). Currently, he is working on two books. The first one is tentatively titled For the Culture: Black Life and the 1990s, and the second is Black Equity, Black Equality: Reparation and Black Communities.
Dr. Patterson also has published articles on W.E.B. Dubois, Toni Morrison, African American Women’s writing in the 19th and 20th centuries, civil rights, Tyler Perry’s films, slavery’s legacies, the film 12 Years a Slave, and rhythm and blues music and culture. Some of his work appears in South Atlantic Quarterly, Black Camera: An International Film Journal, Religion and Literature, The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, The Cambridge Companion to African American Women’s Writing, The Cambridge Companion to Civil Rights Literature, and the Journal of Popular Music Studies. He co-guest edited a special edition of South Atlantic Quarterly, Black Literature, Black Leadership: New Boundaries, New Borders (112.2).
Dr. Patterson’s teaching interests and courses mirror his research projects, and he has taught a range of courses that examine black cultural production, racial equity, and the legacies of slavery.
Dr. Patterson has worked with governmental agencies, school systems, and other organizations to develop solutions that increase diversity, cultivate inclusion, and provide equity of access and outcomes. He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the College Board’s Development Committee for its pilot course in African American Studies. He has also appeared on MSNBC, Fox Soul, CNN, and the British Broadcasting Channel, as well as additional media platforms, to discuss his expertise in slavery’s legacies, reparations, and racial equity more broadly.
Dr. Patterson has collaborated with the Greater Hartford Gives Foundation to endow the Robert J. Patterson Scholarship Fund, which supports residents of Hartford, CT, who intend to pursue an undergraduate degree in African American Studies, social justice, the arts, or the humanities.