Justin Smith, Ph.D.
@justinsmithphd.bsky.social
-PhD, English and African American Studies
-Assistant Prof. of English and Black Studies at Randolph-Macon College
-Opions are my own
-He/him
-Assistant Prof. of English and Black Studies at Randolph-Macon College
-Opions are my own
-He/him
Pinned
ALA 2026 CFP: Come Present with AALCS in Chicago!
African American Literature and Culture Society Call for Papers American Literature Association 37th Annual Conference May 20-23, 2026 Palmer House Hilton 17 E Monroe St,Chicago, IL 60603 The …
aalcsblog.wordpress.com
ALA 2026 CFP: Come Present with AALCS in Chicago!
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
We are going to focus @douglassday.bsky.social in Feb 2026 on the Colored Conventions and their visions for citizenship.
We need to tell a much fuller story about the 14th amendment. The history is crystal clear. The Constitution is crystal clear.
We need to tell a much fuller story about the 14th amendment. The history is crystal clear. The Constitution is crystal clear.
December 8, 2025 at 12:06 AM
We are going to focus @douglassday.bsky.social in Feb 2026 on the Colored Conventions and their visions for citizenship.
We need to tell a much fuller story about the 14th amendment. The history is crystal clear. The Constitution is crystal clear.
We need to tell a much fuller story about the 14th amendment. The history is crystal clear. The Constitution is crystal clear.
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
Save the date!
Douglass Day 2026
"All Rights for All"
Fri, February 13
Sign up today!
DouglassDay.org
Feat. the Colored Conventions Project! @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social
Douglass Day 2026
"All Rights for All"
Fri, February 13
Sign up today!
DouglassDay.org
Feat. the Colored Conventions Project! @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social
December 8, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Save the date!
Douglass Day 2026
"All Rights for All"
Fri, February 13
Sign up today!
DouglassDay.org
Feat. the Colored Conventions Project! @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social
Douglass Day 2026
"All Rights for All"
Fri, February 13
Sign up today!
DouglassDay.org
Feat. the Colored Conventions Project! @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
You could purchase my monograph Pitfalls of Prestige: Black Women and Literary Recognition via Bookshop for Small Business Saturday! bookshop.org/p/books/pitf...
Pitfalls of Prestige: Black Women and Literary Recognition
Black Women and Literary Recognition
bookshop.org
November 29, 2025 at 8:35 PM
You could purchase my monograph Pitfalls of Prestige: Black Women and Literary Recognition via Bookshop for Small Business Saturday! bookshop.org/p/books/pitf...
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
ALA 2026 CFP: Come Present with AALCS in Chicago!
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
ALA 2026 CFP: Come Present with AALCS in Chicago!
African American Literature and Culture Society Call for Papers American Literature Association 37th Annual Conference May 20-23, 2026 Palmer House Hilton 17 E Monroe St,Chicago, IL 60603 The …
aalcsblog.wordpress.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:34 PM
ALA 2026 CFP: Come Present with AALCS in Chicago!
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
We must never forget the lives lost to anti-transgender violence & discrimination. 🏳️⚧️ Share to support the #TransgenderDayofRemembrance! #NOH8 #TDOR
November 20, 2025 at 3:47 PM
We must never forget the lives lost to anti-transgender violence & discrimination. 🏳️⚧️ Share to support the #TransgenderDayofRemembrance! #NOH8 #TDOR
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
CFP: “Those who have must turn around and give:” Celebrating Forty Years of Preserving Black History and Education
Great opportunity to present work on archives, education, community memory, etc!
avery.charleston.edu/cfp_avery_me...
Great opportunity to present work on archives, education, community memory, etc!
avery.charleston.edu/cfp_avery_me...
CFP: “Those who have must turn around and give:” Celebrating Forty Years of Preserving Black History and Education – Avery Research Center
blog site template description
avery.charleston.edu
November 20, 2025 at 9:22 PM
CFP: “Those who have must turn around and give:” Celebrating Forty Years of Preserving Black History and Education
Great opportunity to present work on archives, education, community memory, etc!
avery.charleston.edu/cfp_avery_me...
Great opportunity to present work on archives, education, community memory, etc!
avery.charleston.edu/cfp_avery_me...
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
today's unprecedented foreign terror designation of Antifa has resulted in exactly zero (0) cable news segments 👍
November 13, 2025 at 11:55 PM
today's unprecedented foreign terror designation of Antifa has resulted in exactly zero (0) cable news segments 👍
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
in retrospect the metoo movement did not go too far and in fact should have been given spanish inquisition levels of power and authority
November 13, 2025 at 12:06 PM
in retrospect the metoo movement did not go too far and in fact should have been given spanish inquisition levels of power and authority
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
Yes! The thing abt public libraries that is so beautiful & crucial is the idea that *anybody* could do this — you need no credential, there’s no gatekeeping, literally any person can be an intellectual. You can come from absolutely nothing & yet, by means of curiosity + work, create real knowledge
I wrote a significant chunk of my first book at a Chicago Public Library, an amazing public space where people could read books and newspapers, access the internet, or just keep warm for a while on a cold day. This is appalling.
CPL is an absolute palace to the people and these proposed cuts are abominable. Artificial austerity. Chicago folks, read this, check the links to bug the mayor and your alders—this can be fought and won.
November 8, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Yes! The thing abt public libraries that is so beautiful & crucial is the idea that *anybody* could do this — you need no credential, there’s no gatekeeping, literally any person can be an intellectual. You can come from absolutely nothing & yet, by means of curiosity + work, create real knowledge
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
Assistant/Associate Professor Black Feminisms, University of Maryland - College Park
117/
networks.h-net.org/jobs/69404/u...
117/
networks.h-net.org/jobs/69404/u...
University of Maryland - College Park - Assistant/Associate Professor Black Feminisms | H-Net
The University of Maryland, College Park, invites applications for a tenure-track/tenured appointment as assistant or associate professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. We seek a colleague with a well-established record of research and pedagogy that focuses on Black Feminisms and/or Black Queer and Sexuality Studies and/or Black Women’s Studies.
networks.h-net.org
October 29, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Assistant/Associate Professor Black Feminisms, University of Maryland - College Park
117/
networks.h-net.org/jobs/69404/u...
117/
networks.h-net.org/jobs/69404/u...
ALA 2026 CFP: Come Present with AALCS in Chicago!
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
ALA 2026 CFP: Come Present with AALCS in Chicago!
African American Literature and Culture Society Call for Papers American Literature Association 37th Annual Conference May 20-23, 2026 Palmer House Hilton 17 E Monroe St,Chicago, IL 60603 The …
aalcsblog.wordpress.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:34 PM
ALA 2026 CFP: Come Present with AALCS in Chicago!
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
Please share and submit an abstract!
aalcsblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/c...
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
I'll cautiously say I've noticed more skepticism about AI in the corporate world and it's mostly because people's coworkers are creating extra work for them. They don't have the vocabulary to describe it yet but it's basically the "Why should I read what you couldn't be bothered to write" thing
October 23, 2025 at 2:54 AM
I'll cautiously say I've noticed more skepticism about AI in the corporate world and it's mostly because people's coworkers are creating extra work for them. They don't have the vocabulary to describe it yet but it's basically the "Why should I read what you couldn't be bothered to write" thing
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
“AI” isn’t a tool or technology or even a cluster of technologies with a misleading name. It’s the infrastructure at the foundation of a form of capitalism dependent on data brokering. We should be teaching our students about this and not teaching them about “responsible” use.
September 28, 2025 at 1:38 AM
“AI” isn’t a tool or technology or even a cluster of technologies with a misleading name. It’s the infrastructure at the foundation of a form of capitalism dependent on data brokering. We should be teaching our students about this and not teaching them about “responsible” use.
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
I'm an autistic person working in autistic advocacy. I'm reading the White House transcript so you don't have to. Stay tuned for my commentary.
And please consider inviting me onto your podcast! I've got a lot of experience speaking!
#ActuallyAutistic
And please consider inviting me onto your podcast! I've got a lot of experience speaking!
#ActuallyAutistic
September 23, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I'm an autistic person working in autistic advocacy. I'm reading the White House transcript so you don't have to. Stay tuned for my commentary.
And please consider inviting me onto your podcast! I've got a lot of experience speaking!
#ActuallyAutistic
And please consider inviting me onto your podcast! I've got a lot of experience speaking!
#ActuallyAutistic
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
We’re gonna need a bigger reconstruction.
September 22, 2025 at 9:09 PM
We’re gonna need a bigger reconstruction.
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
weird that neither of these articles two main stories decrying censorship mention WaPo's firing of @karenattiah.bsky.social I guess democracy really does die in darkness
September 18, 2025 at 3:54 PM
weird that neither of these articles two main stories decrying censorship mention WaPo's firing of @karenattiah.bsky.social I guess democracy really does die in darkness
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
In the deserved uproar over Kimmel's suspension, don't forget WaPo & Bezos's gutless firing of the last Black columnist on their Opinions team. I've been following Karen since her bravery over Jamal Kashoggi's death and she walks the walk that so many of us are afraid to.
The last political column I was allowed to write in the @washingtonpost.com was a criticism of Obama.
His people took issue with my piece, but we were respectful.
Now he is tweeting in support of me.
This is how free political speech and respect for debate *actually works*.
Or used to work.
His people took issue with my piece, but we were respectful.
Now he is tweeting in support of me.
This is how free political speech and respect for debate *actually works*.
Or used to work.
September 19, 2025 at 2:11 AM
In the deserved uproar over Kimmel's suspension, don't forget WaPo & Bezos's gutless firing of the last Black columnist on their Opinions team. I've been following Karen since her bravery over Jamal Kashoggi's death and she walks the walk that so many of us are afraid to.
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
We’d be in a much stronger position right now if mainstream Democrats had taken a common sense stand for First Amendment principles instead of piling on undergraduate standing up for Palestine.
September 18, 2025 at 12:29 AM
We’d be in a much stronger position right now if mainstream Democrats had taken a common sense stand for First Amendment principles instead of piling on undergraduate standing up for Palestine.
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
👇🎯 Once again, the answer here is that there are exactly societal institutions more protective of free speech, viewpoint diversity, & the marketplace of ideas than universities, least of all these places EK & RD think liberals don't go bc of their "bunker mentality"
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
It takes both real effort and enormous bad faith to turn the openness of universities to a wide range of perspectives into evidence that progressives have a bunker mentality but these two lifelong pundits have found a way to do it
September 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
👇🎯 Once again, the answer here is that there are exactly societal institutions more protective of free speech, viewpoint diversity, & the marketplace of ideas than universities, least of all these places EK & RD think liberals don't go bc of their "bunker mentality"
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
Don’t you dare call us fascists, they say, as they force people off the airwaves for criticizing them while vowing to crush and criminalize their opposition.
September 18, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Don’t you dare call us fascists, they say, as they force people off the airwaves for criticizing them while vowing to crush and criminalize their opposition.
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
I am having a hard time reconciling "Charlie Kirk was a fierce advocate of open dialogue and free expression" with "we must identify and persecute everyone who is insufficiently mournful"
After Charlie Kirk's death, teachers and professors nationwide fired or disciplined over social media posts
At least a dozen faculty and staff have faced fallout over insensitive comments online.
www.nbcnews.com
September 13, 2025 at 12:08 PM
I am having a hard time reconciling "Charlie Kirk was a fierce advocate of open dialogue and free expression" with "we must identify and persecute everyone who is insufficiently mournful"
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
Lost in the discussion of how Charlie Kirk "did politics the right way" are the lives of the two victims assassinated at Florida State University by a member of Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA, in April 2025.
Weird how when a Trump supporter, white supremacist, and reportedly, a former member of Turning Point USA shot up Florida State University (FSU) several months ago and killed two people - there wasn't the same national conversation about "political violence." www.mediaite.com/news/mass-sh...
September 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Lost in the discussion of how Charlie Kirk "did politics the right way" are the lives of the two victims assassinated at Florida State University by a member of Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA, in April 2025.
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
the maga constitution doesn’t allow any institution, public or private, to explicitly work to ameliorate racial inequality but allows the government to racially profile
BREAKING: By an apparent 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court halts an injunction that had prevented immigration agents from racially profiling Latinos in central California.
Sotomayor, dissenting, says the decision is "unconscionably irreconcilable with our nation's constitutional guarantees."
Sotomayor, dissenting, says the decision is "unconscionably irreconcilable with our nation's constitutional guarantees."
September 8, 2025 at 4:24 PM
the maga constitution doesn’t allow any institution, public or private, to explicitly work to ameliorate racial inequality but allows the government to racially profile
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
The New Yorker asked me “how bad” today’s Supreme Court ruling was. I boiled it down to one paragraph:
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
September 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
The New Yorker asked me “how bad” today’s Supreme Court ruling was. I boiled it down to one paragraph:
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...
Reposted by Justin Smith, Ph.D.
The president of the United States just declared war, actual military war, not a metaphorical one, on a major American city, and one governed by his political opponents.
In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.
In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.
September 6, 2025 at 3:54 PM
The president of the United States just declared war, actual military war, not a metaphorical one, on a major American city, and one governed by his political opponents.
In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.
In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.