The Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice proudly welcomes Amanda Alexander, Charlene Carruthers, and Bianca D.M. Wilson as Visiting Fellows for the 2024-25 academic year.
The Visiting Fellows Program, a signature initiative of the Center for Racial Justice, offers a cohort of racial justice leaders, activists, artists, advocates, and scholars a prestigious, highly competitive fellowship designed to support their transformative work and provide opportunities to strengthen their impact within the policy landscape.
"We are thrilled to celebrate and uplift the extraordinary scholarship, activism, and artistry of our three racial justice changemakers,” said Dr. Dom Adams-Santos, managing director of the Center for Racial Justice. “At a time when overlapping policy issues are harming our most vulnerable communities, their work at the intersection of policy and activism inspires us all, reminding us of the transformative power of collective action in creating a more equitable society."
Amanda Alexander, JD, PhD is a racial justice lawyer, historian, and organizer who founded and served as Executive Director of the Detroit Justice Center, a movement lawyering organization dedicated to creating economic opportunities, transforming the legal system, and promoting just cities. She is co-authoring a book that provides strategies for movement organizers, lawyers, and activists to build community power and influence social change. Alexander is passionate about training the next generation of activists and exploring how to tell stories of historical and contemporary organizing through film.
“I’m excited to be back at U-M in this capacity and to be part of the community that the Center for Racial Justice is building,” Alexander said. “I’ve worked with brilliant and courageous student organizers at U-M in the past and I’m curious about the questions they are grappling with right now.”
Charlene A. Carruthers is a writer, filmmaker, community organizer, and Black Studies PhD candidate at Northwestern University. She is the founding national director of Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), and author of the bestselling book, Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements. She is developing her Plenum project, a film exploring the 1995 Black Nations/Queer Nations? Conference. The film addresses themes such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Black family dynamics, and the intersections of queer, trans, and racial justice. Drawing on the legacy of past Black LGBTQ+ activists, Carruthers aims to drive public discourse and challenge regressive policies through her work.
"Racial justice requires that we not only recount historical events, it requires us to reckon with the implications of the past in our present-day lives and in the coming future,” said Carruthers. “The Plenum project embraces this challenge and the potential to be actualized through the CRJ Visiting Fellows Program."
Bianca D. Wilson, PhD is an associate professor in the Department of Social Welfare at the Luskin School of Public Affairs and an affiliate faculty member of the California Center for Population Research at UCLA. Her forthcoming book, based on 100 interviews with economically marginalized queer individuals, seeks to uncover the structural and social barriers contributing to poverty among LGBTQ communities. Wilson’s research aims to highlight the overlooked role of structural racism in LGBTQ poverty, with the hope of inspiring policy changes that better address these challenges.
“I’m really looking forward to being in a learning space and having the opportunity to approach my work with an interest in expanding and improving it, " Wilson explained. “One of the most intriguing aspects of this project is simply people’s interest in telling their stories and their willingness to share how they dealt with poverty and all its manifestations.”
On Tuesday, October 1, the fellows will be in conversation with CRJ Founding Director and Ford School Dean, Celeste Watkins-Hayes about the strategies, motivations, and lessons shaping the work of racial justice changemakers across various fields. A catered reception will follow in the Becky Blank Great Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
This 2024 visiting fellows cohort was generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
