Black Academic Loss and Survival Archive
Why This Archive Exists
Only days before Professor Jason Arday died, I had been discussing what his experience revealed about race, scrutiny and belonging in academia. When the news came, I thought of Roslyn Thomas-Long, of my own interrupted doctoral journey, and of the many Black students, scholars and academic workers whose stories appear in news reports, academic research, LinkedIn posts and everyday testimony—then disappear.
The stories are everywhere. The record is not.
This archive was created to begin gathering what is already publicly known: accounts of loss, harm, resistance and survival across academic life. It does not presume that every story is the same, or that racism alone explains every outcome. It asks what becomes visible when these accounts are recorded together—carefully, ethically and with the humanity of the people at their centre kept intact.
The goal is to make the pattern harder to deny.
What The Archive Records
This archive looks beyond death. It records loss, harm, resistance and survival across Black academic life—from public attack and institutional pressure to interrupted study, departure, healing and continuation.
LOSS & REMEMBRANCE
Deaths, memorials and the lives behind public accounts.
INTERRUPTION & DEPARTURE
Interrupted study, suspension, withdrawal, dismissal, resignation and careers redirected or ended.
HARM & INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE
Racism, discrimination, public attack, institutional action, disability-related barriers and effects on health and wellbeing.
RESISTANCE & SURVIVAL
Speaking out, organizing, legal challenge, healing, return and work carried forward.
How We Build The Record
PUBLIC SOURCES
We gather material from news reports, academic research, institutional records and statements, obituaries, and public professional testimony—including LinkedIn and other public platforms.
WHAT A SOURCE CAN SHOW
A public post documents that an account was made; it does not automatically prove every underlying claim. Testimony, allegation, institutional response and verified fact are identified separately.
CONSENT AND CARE
Names are included only when already public or when permission has been given. Private contributions require consent. The archive does not speculate about causes of death or claim that racism caused an outcome without evidence.
COUNTING HONESTLY
People, individual stories, posts, interviews, survey respondents and documents are counted separately. A large collection of posts is not presented as the same number of people or incidents.
HUMAN-LED, AI-ASSISTED
Carla Rodney makes the final decisions about inclusion, wording, context and care. AI may assist with searching, sorting and formatting; it does not decide whose story is true or what a life means.
Current Archive at a Glance
15
INDIVIDUAL CASES
6
COLLECTIVE TESTIMONY COLLECTIONS
33
SOURCE RECORDS
Version 1.2
These figures describe the current archive—not the full scale of Black loss, harm, resistance and survival in academia.
One research corpus included in the archive contains 12,538 original public #BlackInTheIvory posts. This is a count of posts, not 12,538 people or separate incidents.
Help Build the Record
This archive cannot be built from one person’s memory or one set of sources.
If you know of a public news report, academic study, institutional statement, obituary, LinkedIn post or other professional testimony that belongs here, please send it. You may also share your own experience.
Public material will be reviewed and clearly attributed. Personal accounts will not be published without explicit consent. Contributors may ask to be named, credited, anonymous in any public entry, or contacted before anything is used.
Submitting material does not guarantee inclusion, but every contribution will be treated with care.