"The need for good leadership, has absolutely never been greater" |
Ravi K. Perry, a native of Toledo, Ohio, holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Brown University, each in political science. Dr. Perry is Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at Virginia Commonwealth University. An expert on Black politics, minority representation, urban politics, American public policy, and LGBT candidates of color, Dr. Perry is the editor of 21st Century Urban Race Politics: Representing Minorities as Universal Interests, a book that discusses the efforts of African American, Latino and Asian mayors to represent the interests of minorities in historically White cities in the United States. His second book, entitled Black Mayors, White Majorities: The Balancing Act of Racial Politics, focuses on the challenges Black mayors face in representing Black interests in majority White, medium‐sized cities in the state of Ohio. His third book, published with his mother, is The Little Rock Crisis: What Desegregation Politics Says About Us. In it, Perry and Perry frame the story of the Little Rock 1957 desegregation crisis through the lens of memory. Over time, those memories – individual and collective – have motivated Little Rockians for social and political action and engagement. To listen to the recorded, unscripted, interviews of Black Little Rockians’ involvement in civil rights, visit here: http://library.msstate.edu/perry/ Perry’s recent publication, “LGBT Politics and Rights through the Obama Era,” examines President Obama’s evolution on the rights afforded LGBT (Black) Americans. Published in Donald Cunnigen and Marino Bruce’s Race in the Age of Obama, Vol. 2, Emerald Group Publishing, (with Joseph P. McCormick II), the chapter explores the intersection and race, sexuality and American presidential politics. Currently, Dr. Perry is writing a book that introduces the lives and campaigns of Black, and openly lesbian and gay elected officials in the United States. A member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Perry is Immediate Past President of the Association for Ethnic Studies, and a member of the Executive Council for the Urban Politics Organized Section of the American Political Science Association. Previously, Perry was a member of the Board of Directors and Affiliate Equity Officer for the ACLU of Mississippi, and Dr. Perry was also one of the first openly gay branch presidents of color in the history of the NAACP in Worcester, Massachusetts. A proud feminist, Perry is a life‐long advocate for and with the LGBTQIA communities, the globally oppressed and marginalized, and HIV and/or AIDS impacted persons everywhere. Dr. Perry is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including being recognized as an 'Emerging Scholar' by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, one of the Andrew Goodman Foundation’s 50 “Hero Citizens;” Out Magazine’s “Hidden 105” and The Advocate’s “193 Reasons to Have Pride,” and “40 under 40.” |
