About

Dr. Gayle T. Tate is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of Africana Studies and a member of the Graduate Faculty of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University. She has served as both a past and current Chairperson of the Department of Africana Studies. Her areas of specialization include African-American and Diaspora studies, as well as Gender and Sexuality. Dr. Tate's published work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals such as The Western Journal of Black Studies, Women & Politics, The National Political Science Review, Urban Affairs Annual Review, Third World in Perspective, Black Women’s History at the Intersection of Knowledge and Power, and the Journal of Black Studies. Her contributions extend to several encyclopedias, including Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. She has also held editorial roles, including associate editor for Africana: An Introduction & Study and co-editor of volumes such as Dimensions of Black Conservatism in the United States: Made in America, The Black Urban Community, and The Black Experience in America. Dr. Tate is the author of the book 'Unknown Tongues: Black Women’s Political Activism in the Antebellum Era, 1830-1860,' published in 2003, which was a Choice recommendation in 2004. She is also the co-author of 'Rights for a Season: The Politics of Race, Class, and Gender in Richmond Virginia,' published in 2003. Her work has been recognized with awards, including her book 'Rights for a Season' winning the Best Book Award for Urban Politics from the American Political Science Association in 2004.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Law
• Theology
• Religious studies
• Philosophy
• Mathematics
• Law and economics
• Gender studies
• Media studies

Selected publications

• Organizing Freedom: Black Emancipation Activism in the Civil War Midwest

  Civil War Book Review · 2021 · 3 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Political Science

  Jennifer R. Harbour provides us with a finely tuned multilayered exploration of black women's activism in the antebellum and Civil War eras. Harbour contends that Illinois and Indiana, two states that African Americans immigrated to seeking economic, social, and religious opportunities proved steeped in racial conflict. The dreams, hopes, and ambitions of Black people soon encountered the capriciousness of white racism and the restrictive covenants of black codes that circumscribed Black life. As stringent anti-Black laws, rapidly developing as the Black population increased, took on the hue and caste of the slave states, Black people were left out of the body politic. Freedom, at best fragile in Illinois and Indiana, proved elusive. African Americans, whether fugitives, escapees, or settlers making a fresh start seeking to carve out their regional identity in these Midwestern states would prove to be a challenge. Wedged between the legal system of enslavement in southern states, and in some cases, fugitives coming through the Underground Railroad in Illinois and Indiana fleeing for their lives, and the tentative freedoms that these Midwestern states offered, were some of the causal factors spearheading Black women's activism.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Frances E. W. Harper: A Call to Conscience. By Utz McKnight. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2021. 301p. $69.95 cloth, $24.95 paper.

  Perspectives on Politics · 2021

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Theology

  An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

  PublisherDOI

• Richard D. Benson II, <i>Fighting for Our Place in the Sun: Malcolm X and the Radicalization of the Black Student Movement, 1960–1973</i>. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2015. Pp. 304. $159.95 (cloth); $40.95 (paper).

  The Journal of African American History · 2018-03-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• ReviewJohn Torpey, <i>Making Whole What Has Been Smashed: On Reparations Politics</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. Pp. 204. Cloth $44.50.

  The Journal of African American History · 2012-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Black Experience in America

  2011-08-18 · 2 citations

  bookSenior author
  Publisher

• ReviewStacey M. Floyd-Thomas, <i>Deeper Shades of Purple: Womanism in Religion and Society</i>. New York: NYU Press, 2006. Pp. 331. Paper $24.00.

  The Journal of African American History · 2010-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Introduction

  Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · 2006-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Before the sizeable waves of black migrations transformed urban black communities in the twentieth century, much of the prevailing sentiment regarding race, blackness, and the "other" had been determined for several centuries. As the notion of race evolved over the course of three centuries, it would be appropriated by those in power, changed depending on the economic vagaries of industrial capitalism, to maintain hegemony as well as legitimize the political powerlessness and the economic and social marginalization of African Americans. Indeed, as urban black pioneers responded to the "push" from the economic distress of the South and other parts of the diaspora, their migration to new urban spaces and subsequent push for jobs, education, community space and a reallocation of resources, exacerbated existing ethnic tensions and racial antipathies. Decidedly, the major flashpoints of ethnic conflict were the marketplace and residential space as labor and community defined the urban dwellers means of survival.

  PublisherDOI

• The Black Urban Community

  Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · 2006-01-01 · 3 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Free Black Women in the Antebellum North

  African American Studies Center · 2005-05-19

  reference-entry1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Elaw, Zilpha

  African American Studies Center · 2005-05-19

  reference-entry1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Lewis A. Randolph

  6 shared

• Ronald L. Heinemann

  1 shared

• Edward Ramsamy

  African Studies Centre

  1 shared

• John T. McCartney

  Lafayette College

  1 shared

• Judith A. Luckett

  1 shared

Labs

• Black Ecologies LabPI

Awards & honors

• Unknown Tongues: Black Women’s Political Activism in the Ant…
• Rights for a Season: The Politics of Race, Class, and Gender…