Crystal Fleming Biography

Dr. Crystal Marie Fleming was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and grew up on the East Coast in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at SUNY Stony Brook and also a cultural critic, an author, and social scientist, committed to empowering people with the conceptual tools needed to understand, confront and challenge white supremacy. Her writing, scholarship, and teaching is greatly influenced by her passion for promoting equality, speaking truth to power and addressing injustice. On racism and anti-racism, she conducted research in the United States and France, and collaborated on projects examining the experiences of ethnic and racial minorities in Israel and Brazil. She earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in Sociology from Harvard University and graduated with honors in Sociology and French from Wellesley College. Her research appeared in journals such as Ethnic and Racial Studies, Poetics, The Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race and Mindfulness. Her critically acclaimed book, How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide (Beacon Press), combines critical race theory, memoir, social commentary and satire to debunk common misconceptions about racism. In 2008, the book was published and it earned her a starred Kirkus review as well as glowing write ups in the Publisher’s Weekly, Bustle, ESPN/The Undefeated among others. Her first book Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France (Temple University Press, 2017) uses critical race theory to significantly advance scholarship on racism in France and Europe. Building on her award-winning dissertation, the book marshals ethnographic data, archival research and in-depth interviews with French activists and descendants of slaves to examine how commemorations of enslavement and abolition both challenge and reproduce the racial order. Known for her honest talk and nonchalant humor, Crystal is a public intellectual whose challenging writing and speaking engages a broad range of scholarly and personal topics, from racism and white supremacy to spirituality, politics, feminism, philosophy and bisexuality. Her essays and op-eds can be found in popular publications like Vox, Newsweek, Everyday Feminism, The Root, Black Agenda Report, Black Perspectives and Huffington Post. Her literary agent Michael Bourret represents her. With over 40,000 followers and millions of readers, Dr. Fleming is a bold, active and influential voice on Twitter. Her tweets on racism and politics have been cited in pop culture and media outlets such as Hip Hop Wired, The Nation, The New Republic, Blavity, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, BET, USA Today, and Buzzfeed. She currently lives in New York with her partner and their adorable cat.

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