Christopher J.

Lebron
[email protected]

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Associate Professor, Philosophy (2017 – Present)

Yale University, New Haven, CT

Assistant Professor, African American Studies & Philosophy (2014 – 2017)

Associate Research Fellow, Political Science; Ethics, Politics & Economics (2012 –
2014)

University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Assistant Professor, Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics (2009 – 2012)

EDUCATION

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Ph.D., Political Science (6/2009)
Fields: Social Theory and Political Philosophy, International Relations (second field)
Dissertation: Race, Power, History, and Justice In America
Committee: Joshua Cohen (chair), Melissa Nobles, Sarah Song, Tommie Shelby

Baruch College, City University of New York, New York, NY

B. A., Political Science and Philosophy (with honors; magna cum laude) (2004)
Honors Thesis: Towards a Theory of International Justice

AWARDS & HONORS

THE DALLAS INSTITUTE OF HUMANITIES AND CULTURE – THE HIETT PRIZE IN THE HUMANITIES
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(NATIONAL PRIZE FOR ACADEMICS AND NON-ACADEMICS) (WINNER 2018)

American Political Science Association Foundations of Political Theory section First
Book Prize for The Color of Our Shame: Race and Justice In Our Time (2014)
University of Virginia, Miller Center of Public Affairs Wilson Carey McWilliams Fellow
(2007-2008)
MIT Graduate Fellowship (2004-2009)
American Political Science Association, Minority Graduate Fellow (2004-2005)
Duke University, Ralph Bunche Summer Institute Fellow (Summer 2003)
City University of New York, McNair Fellow (Summer 2003)
Lillian B. Kormandy Scholarship recipient (2003)
Hispanic Scholarship Fund recipient (2002)

FIELDS OF INTEREST
Political ethics; moral theory; social justice; race

PUBLICATIONS
Books
Common Failures and Extraordinary Hopes: Race and the Uses of Imagination – under review
by Oxford University Press (December 2019)

The Making of ‘Black Lives Matter’: A Brief History of an Idea –Oxford University Press, June
2017
Finalist for The Hooks Institute National Book Award – recognizing work that “furthers
our understanding of the American civil rights movement and its legacy.” (final
award decision not yet made)

The Color of Our Shame: Race and Justice In Our Time – Oxford University Press, September
2013
Winner of the American Political Science Association Foundations of Political Theory section
First
Book Prize for The Color of Our Shame: Race and Justice In Our Time (2014)

Articles
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“Response to Critics” in Ethnic & Racial Studies [forthcoming] – Symposium for The Making of
Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea.

“Thoughts on Racial Democratic Education and Moral Virtue” in Research and Theory in
Education 13 no. 2 (2015), pp. 155-164.

“Equality From A Human Point of View” in Critical Philosophy of Race 2 no. 2 (2014), pp. 125-
159.

“The Agony of A Racial Democracy” in Theory & Event 15 no.3 (2012)

http://muse.jhu.edu/article/484430

Invited Contributions
“The Sense and Sensibility of Equality” in The Southern Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming)

“Without The Loving Strains Of Commitment: Johns Rawls and James Baldwin On the Sense of
Justice” in Ideas That Matter: Essays In Honor of Joshua Cohen. Eds. Debra Satz and Annabelle
Lever. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019)

“Between Roots and Routes: On Paul Gilroy’s “The Black Atlantic” Invited contribution to the
Oxford Handbook of Classics in Contemporary Political Theory (forthcoming in print; available
online)

Book Reviews
Review of Nicholas Buccola’s The Fire Is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr.
and the Debate
over Race In America in Perspectives On Politics (forthcoming)

Review of Andrew Valls’ Rethinking Racial Justice in Ethics. 130 no. 3. (2020), pp. 478-482.

Review of Charles Mills’s Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism in
Philosophical
Review. 128 no. 4 (2019), pp. 532-536.
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Review of Tommie Shelby’s Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform in Political Theory 47
no.4 (2019)
pp. 527-558.

“From Our Long, Dogmatic Racial Slumber” (review of Jack Turner’s Awakening To Race:
Individualism and Social Consciousness In America) in Political Theory 44 no. 1 (2016), pp. 140-
144.

Review of Clarissa Hayward’s How Americans Make Race: Stories, Institutions, Spaces in
Contemporary Political Theory 14 no. 2 (2015), e201-e204.
http://www.palgravejournals.com/cpt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/cpt201417a.html

“Seeing (Beyond) The Limits Of Our Racial Knowledge” (review of Irene Tucker’s The Moment
of Racial Sight: A History) in Theory & Event 17 no. 1 (2014)
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/539139

IN PROGRESS
Black Love Unbound: An american Story In Three Voices – (an overlapping social-intellectual
biography of James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Audre Lorde and their political philosophies)

PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL ENGAGEMENT

“White America Wants Me To Conform. I Won’t Do It” in The New York Times (The Stone). June
16,
2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/opinion/black-academia-racism.html

“What Happened To Kanye West: in Boston Review. December 6 2018

https://bostonreview.net/race/christopher-lebron-what-happened-kanye-west

“The Personal Cost of Black Success” in The Atlantic. November, 2018

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/the-personal-cost-of-black-
success/570820/

“Up From Rawls” in The Nation. July 18, 2018

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https://www.thenation.com/article/up-from-rawls/

“Janelle Monae For President” in Boston Review. May 21, 2018

https://bostonreview.net/race-literature-culture/chris-lebron-janelle-monae-president

“Black Panther Is Not The Movie We Deserve” in Boston Review. February 17, 2018
https://bostonreview.net/race/christopher-lebron-black-panther

“Who First Showed Us That Black Lives Matter?” in The New York Times (The Stone). February
5, 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/opinion/black-lives-matter-philosophy.html

“What We Are Teaching Black Children” in The New York Times (The Stone). June 22, 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/opinion/charleena-lyles-philando-castile.html

“Trump’s Racial Time Machine” in The New York Times (The Stone). November 11, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/opinion/trumps-racial-time-machine.html

“I’m Black. Does America Have A Plan for My Life?” in The New York Times (The Stone).
September
26, 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/opinion/im-black-does-america-have-a-plan-for-my-
life.html?_r=0

“Race, Truth, and Our Two Realities” in The New York Time (The Stone). July 11, 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/opinion/race-truth-and-our-two-realities.html

“Lynching By Any Other Name” in Boston Review, June 23, 2016.

http://www.bostonreview.net/us/christopher-lebron-california-horror-lynch-law-its-latest-phase

“To Be A Black Professor At Yale” in The Chronicle of Higher Education. February 14, 2016.

“The Invisibility of Black Women” in Boston Review. January 15, 2016.

https://bostonreview.net/blog/christopher-lebron-invisibility-black-women
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“The Inheritance of Disaffection” in The New York Times (The Stone). November 30, 2015.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/the-inheritance-of-disaffection/?_r=0

“I’m Fine How I Am: A Response To Randall Kennedy’s Defense of Respectability Politics”
in Boston Review. September 25, 2015. http://bostonreview.net/books-ideas/chris-lebron-
response-randall-kennedy-respectability-politics

“Time For A New Black Radicalism” in The New York Times (The Stone). June 19, 2015.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/time-for-a-new-black-radicalism/?_r=0

“What, To The Black American, Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day?” in The New York Times
(The Stone). January 18, 2015. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/what-to-the-
black-american-is-martin-luther-king-jr-day/?ref=opinion&_r=0

“Are Blacks Friends or Foes?” in Boston Review Jan/Feb 2015

http://bostonreview.net/forum/ferguson-wont-change-anything-what-will/christopher-lebron-
christopher-lebron-response

Philosophy Talk Radio (guest) – Year In Review [aired January 4, 2015]

Interview with 3:AM Magazine (on The Color of Our Shame and the status of race in
philosophy); published September 29, 2014
http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-colour-of-our-shame/

CONFERENCES & PRESENTATIONS

“Philosophy In Public: Discussing Identity as a Public Intellectual In The Humanities”.
Philosophy Dept. workshop. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, November 15, 2019.
“A Coming Out of Ourselves”: Knowing Our Place In Racial Justice. Public Lecture – Center for
the Humanities and the Public Sphere. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, November 14,
2019.

“A Coming Out of Ourselves”: Knowing Our Place In Racial Justice. 2nd Annual Ambedkar
Lectures. Columbia University, New York, NY, October 17, 2019
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The Sense and Sensibility of Equality. Practical Philosophy Workshop. University of Chicago,
Chicago, IL, April 19, 2019

The Sense and Sensibility of Equality. Keynote – The Epistemology of Justice – University of
Memphis, Memphis, TN, March 21-22, 2019

Black Love and Black Rage In America: The Burden of Hope, The Chancellor Dunning
Lectureship – Queens University, Kingston, Canada, October 11, 2018

The Reversal of the Lost Race Narrative, Washington University, St. Louis, MO September 16,
2018

Black Love and Black Rage In America: The Burden of Hope, Washington University, St. Louis,
MO September 13, 2018

Black Panther Is Not The Movie We Deserve, New York, NY, April 27, 2018

Black Love and Black Rage In America, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Feb 7, 2018

The Reversal of the Lost Race Narrative; University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Feb 88,
2018

The Duty to Imagine: Afrofuturism vs. the Politics of White Identity Narratives, Georgia Tech,
Atlanta GA, March 1, 2018

The Reversal of the Lost Race Narrative, Colloquium, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA,
February 8, 2018

The Future of Racial Morality After Black Love and Black Rage, Lecture, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA, February 18, 2018

Without the Loving Strains of Commitment: Baldwin on Love and Justice, Colloquium, Duke
University,
Durham, NC, April 7, 2017

The Future of Racial Morality After Black Love and Black Rage, Lecture, Brooklyn Public
Library, NYC, NY, May 18, 2017

The Reversal of the Lost Race Narrative, Conference, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, April 29, 2017

Without the Loving Strains of Commitment: Baldwin on Love and Justice, Conference, Johns
Hopkins
University, Baltimore, MD, April 7, 2017

Without the Loving Strains of Commitment: Baldwin on Love and Justice, Colloquium, SUNY
Binghamton,
NY, March 9, 2017

Without the Loving Strains of Commitment: Baldwin on Love and Justice, Conference, Stanford,
Palo Alto, CA, January 21, 2017.
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Without the Loving Strains of Commitment: Baldwin on Love and Justice, Lecture, University of
Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL, November 4, 2016

Hannah Arendt Center for Politics “Real Talk: Difficult Questions About Race, Sex, and
Religion”
Ananndale-on-Hudson, NY, October 21, 2016

The Future of Racial Morality After Black Love and Black Rage, Lecture, Philosophy In An
Inclusive Key (PIKSI), State College, PA, June 15, 2016

New York Council for the Humanities “Democracy and Distrust”, New York, NY, May 3, 2016

The Future of Racial Morality After Black Love and Black Rage, Lecture, Seton Hall, April 21,
2016

The Sense and Sensibility of Equality, Duke Philosophy Colloquium, Duke University, Durham,
NC,
March 4, 2016

The Future of Racial Morality After Black Love and Black Rage, Philosophy and Race Speaker
Series,
Columbia University, New York, NY, February 19, 2016

Cultural Control Over Social Control: The Radical Possibilities of the Harlem Renaissance,
Teacher’s College
Colloquium, Columbia University, New York, NY, February 18, 2016

Black Love and Black Rage in America Part III: The Burden of Hope, Political Theory
Colloquium,
Washington University, Seattle, WA, November 3, 2015

Black Love & Black Rage In America Part II: The Meaning of the Blues, Public Lecture, Emory
College, Atlanta, GA, September 22, 2015

Black Love and Black Rage In America Part I: The Well-Being of Our Emotions, Lecture,
Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA, May 3, 2015
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Thoughts On Racial Democratic Education and Moral Virtue, University of Pennsylvania

Graduate School of Education Visiting Faculty of Color Lecture Series, Philadelphia, PA,
December 2, 2014

The Sense and Sensibility of Equality, Wesleyan Philosophy Colloquium, Middletown,

CT, October 27, 2014

The Sense and Sensibility of Equality, Stanford Political Theory Workshop, Stanford, CA,
October 17, 2014

The Sense and Sensibility of Equality, MIT Philosophy Colloquium, Cambridge, MA,
October 10, 2014

The Political Significance of Blame, Moral Theory Workshop – Philosophy, Yale

University
New Haven, CT, April 2014

Equality From A Human Point of View, Political Theory Colloquium – Political Science,
Columbia University New York, NY, October 2013

Theory Is Stranger Than Fiction: Black Literature As Social Truth, The American
Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, August 2013

The Philosophy of Racial Justice: Urgency, Imagination, and Method, Endeavors – Yale
African-American Studies Speaker Series, New Haven, CT, March 2013

Equality From A Human Point of View, Political Theory Colloquium – Political Science,
University of Maryland: College Park, College Park, MD, February 2013

Equality From A Human Point of View, Political Theory Colloquium – Political Science,
Yale University, New Haven, CT November, 2012
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Race In A Post-Civil Rights America, The American Political Science Association,

Seattle, WA, September 2011

The Political Significance of Blame, The American Political Science Association,

Washington, D.C., September 2010

The Political Significance of Blame, Affect, Imagination and Democracy, University of

Virginia, Charlottesville, VA April 2010

Explaining Historical Injustice: History, Socially Embedded Power, and Group

Asymmetries, The American Political Science Association, Toronto, Canada, September
2009.

COURSES
Liberalism
Luck and Justice
The Idea of Power
Contemporary Political Thought
Egalitarianism
Morality and Black Literature
The Making of ‘Black Lives Matter’ – An Intellectual History
The Political Philosophy of Afrofuturism
Being A Good Person
Moral Imagination

SERVICE
Johns Hopkins
Board Memberr – Alexander Grass Humanities Institute – Fall 2019 - Present
Hiring Committee – Fall 2018 – Present
Undergraduate Advising
- Aidan Hamilton
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Graduate Advising
- David Bernad Williams
- Patrick O’Donnell

Academy
2015 – January 2019 – Board of Editorial Consultants – Public Affairs Quarterly