Summary: | African American studies and history professor Barbara Ransby was born on May 12, 1957, in Detroit, Michigan. She completed her B.A. degree in history at Columbia University in 1984. Ransby received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in history from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1987 and 1996, respectively. While at the University of Michigan, Ransby founded the Ella Baker-Nelson Mandela Center for Anti-Racist Education and the African American Women in Defense of Ourselves organization. In 1996, she joined the faculty of the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) as an assistant professor in the departments of history and African American studies. She became an associate professor at UIC in 2002. In 2003, Ransby authored the book, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement. Since 2008, Ransby was a professor and director of UIC's Gender and Women Studies Department and was appointed interim vice provost for planning and programs in 2011.
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