Michael Eric Dyson
American academic and ordained minister From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Eric Dyson (born October 23, 1958) is an American academic, author, Baptist minister, and radio host. He is a professor in the College of Arts and Science and in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University.[3] Described by Michael A. Fletcher as "a Princeton Ph.D. and a child of the streets who takes pains never to separate the two",[4] Dyson has authored or edited more than twenty books dealing with subjects such as race, religion and politics as well as biographies on Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Marvin Gaye, Barack Obama, Bill Cosby, Tupac Shakur and Jay-Z.
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Michael Eric Dyson | |
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| Born | October 23, 1958 |
| Spouses |
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| Ecclesiastical career | |
| Ordained | c. 1977 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | |
| Thesis | Uses of Heroes: Celebration and Criticism in the Interpretation of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. (1993) |
| Influences | Manning Marable[2] |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Sociology |
| Institutions | Vanderbilt University |
| Website | michaelericdyson |
Early life and education
Dyson was born on October 23, 1958, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Addie Mae Leonard, who was from Alabama. He was adopted by his stepfather, Everett Dyson.[citation needed] He attended Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on an academic scholarship but left and completed his education at Northwestern High School.[4] He became an ordained Baptist minister at nineteen years of age.[5] Having worked in factories in Detroit to support his family, he entered Knoxville College as a freshman at the age of twenty-one.[6] Dyson received his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Carson–Newman College in 1985.[4] He received a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University in 1993 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled Uses of Heroes: Celebration and Criticism in the Interpretation of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.[7]
Career
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Professor
Dyson has taught at Chicago Theological Seminary, Brown University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University, DePaul University, and the University of Pennsylvania.[4] From 2007 to 2020, he was a professor of sociology at Georgetown University.[8] In 2021, Dyson moved to Vanderbilt University where he holds the Centennial Chair and serves as University Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies in the College of Arts and Science and University Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Society in the Divinity School.[3] Between 2016 and 2018, he was a visiting professor at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.
Author
His 1994 book Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X became a New York Times notable book of the year.[9] In his 2006 book Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, Dyson analyzes the political and social events in the wake of the catastrophe against the backdrop of an overall "failure in race and class relations".[10][11][12] In 2010, Dyson edited Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic, with contributions based on the album's tracks by, among others, Kevin Coval, Kyra D. Gaunt ("Professor G"), dream hampton, Marc Lamont Hill, Adam Mansbach, and Mark Anthony Neal.[13] Dyson's own essay in this anthology, "'One Love', Two Brothers, Three Verses", argues that the current US penal system disfavors young black males more than any other segment of the population.[14][15] His last three books appeared repeatedly on the New York Times Bestseller list.
Commentator
Dyson hosted a radio show, which aired on Radio One, from January 2006 to February 2007. He is also a commentator on National Public Radio, MSNBC and CNN, and is a regular guest on Real Time with Bill Maher. Beginning July 2015 Michael Eric Dyson became a political analyst for MSNBC.[16] In May 2018, he participated in the Munk debate on political correctness, arguing alongside Michelle Goldberg against Stephen Fry and Jordan Peterson.[17] In August 2018, he spoke at the funeral of Aretha Franklin.[18]
The Michael Eric Dyson Show radio program debuted on April 6, 2009, and was broadcast from Morgan State University. The show's first guest was Oprah Winfrey,[19] to whom Dyson dedicated his book Can You Hear Me Now? The Inspiration, Wisdom, and Insight of Michael Eric Dyson. The show appears to have been discontinued with its last episode being in December 2011.
Dyson served on the board of directors of the Common Ground Foundation, a project dedicated to empowering urban youth in the United States.[20]
Beliefs
Dyson's general philosophy is that American black people are continuing to suffer from generations of ongoing oppression. On Fox News with Tucker Carlson, Dyson suggested that white Americans looking for ways to counter white privilege could make individual efforts to contribute time and money to support local black communities.[21]
Bibliography
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| Title | Year | ISBN | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism | 1993 | ISBN 9780816621439 | University of Minnesota Press |
| Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X | 1995 | ISBN 9780195102857 | Oxford University Press |
| Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line | 1996 | ISBN 9780201911862 | Addison Wesley |
| Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture | 1997 | ISBN 9780195115697 | Oxford University Press |
| I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. | 2000 | ISBN 9780684867762 | Free Press |
| Holler if You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur | 2002 | ISBN 9780465017560 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy | 2002 | ISBN 9780465017652 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Why I Love Black Women | 2002 | ISBN 9780465017638 | Perseus Book Group |
| The Michael Eric Dyson Reader | 2004 | ISBN 9780465017713 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye | 2005 | ISBN 9780465017706 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? | 2005 | ISBN 9780465017195 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Pride: The Seven Deadly Sins | 2006 | ISBN 9780195160925 | Oxford University Press |
| Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster | 2006 | ISBN 9780465017614 | Perseus Book Group |
| Debating Race | 2007 | ISBN 9780465002061 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip Hop | 2007 | ISBN 9780465017164 | Basic Civitas Books |
| April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King's Death and How it Changed America | 2008 | ISBN 9780465012862 | Basic Civitas Books |
| Can You Hear Me Now? The Inspiration, Wisdom, and Insight of Michael Eric Dyson | 2009 | ISBN 9780465018833 | Basic Civitas Books |
| The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America | 2016 | ISBN 9780544387669 | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America | 2017 | ISBN 9781250135995 | St. Martin's Press |
| What Truth Sounds Like | 2017 | ISBN 9781250135995 | St. Martin's Press |
| JAY-Z: Made in America | 2019 | ISBN 9781250230966 | St. Martin's Press |
| Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America | 2020 | ISBN 9781250276759 | St. Martin's Press |
| Entertaining Race: Performing Blackness in America | 2021 | ISBN 9781250135971 | St. Martin's Press |
| Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote | 2024 | {{ }} | [[ ]] |
Editor
Awards and nominations
| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | American Book Award | Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster | Won | [22] | |
| 2004 | NAACP Image Award | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Why I Love Black Women | Won | [23] |
| 2006 | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? | Won | [24] | |
| 2007 | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster | Nominated | [25] | |
| 2008 | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip-Hop | Nominated | [26][27] | |
| 2021 | Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction | Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America | Nominated | [28] | |
| 2018 | Southern Book Prize | Non-Fiction | Tears We Cannot Stop | Won | [29] |
Interviews
- Presentation by Dyson on I May Not Get There With You, January 10, 2000, C-SPAN
- Washington Journal interview with Dyson on I May Not Get There With You, April 10, 2000, C-SPAN
- Booknotes interview with Dyson on Holler If You Hear Me, November 4, 2001, C-SPAN|
- After Words interview with Dyson on Is Bill Cosby Right: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?, May 15, 2005, C-SPAN
- Book group discussion on Is Bill Cosby Right: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?, February 28, 2006, C-SPAN
- Presentation by Dyson on Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina, February 24, 2006, C-SPAN
- Presentation by Dyson on Know What I Mean?, July 18, 2007, C-SPAN
- After Words interview with Dyson on The Black Presidency, March 11, 2016, C-SPAN
- Presentation by Dyson on Tears We Cannot Stop, January 18, 2017, C-SPAN
- Interview with Dyson on Tears We Cannot Stop, April 22, 2017, C-SPAN
- Presentation by Dyson on Tears We Cannot Stop, June 10, 2017, C-SPAN
- Presentation by Dyson on Tears We Cannot Stop, September 22, 2017, C-SPAN
- Washington Journal interview with Dyson on Tears We Cannot Stop, December 24, 2017, C-SPAN
- Presentation by Dyson on What Truth Sounds Like, June 6, 2018, C-SPAN
- Washington Journal interview with Dyson on What Truth Sounds Like, June 24, 2018, C-SPAN
- Presentation by Dyson on Long Time Coming, December 8, 2020, C-SPAN
- Presentation by Dyson on Entertaining Race, November 12, 2021, C-SPAN
References
External links
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