List of African American philosophers

This is an incomplete list of notable African American philosophers. For other African Americans, see Lists of African Americans.

Anita L. Allen (born 1953), professor of law and philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
William B. Allen (born 1944), political philosopher and politician
Kwame Anthony Appiah (born 1954), professor of law and philosophy at New York University
Molefi Kete Asante (born 1942), professor of Africology at Temple University
Moya Bailey, professor at Northwestern University, coined misogynoir
Thomas Nelson Baker Sr. (1860–1940), first African American to receive a PhD in philosophy in the United States
Kathryn Sophia Belle (born 1978), professor of philosophy at Pennsylvania State University
Patricia Hill Collins (born 1948), professor of sociology emerita at the University of Maryland
Tommy J. Curry, professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburgh
Angela Davis (born 1944), professor emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz
William Fontaine (1909–1968), professor at the University of Pennsylvania
Cornelius Golightly (1917–1976), associate dean and professor of philosophy at Wayne State University
Lewis Gordon (born 1962), professor of philosophy and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut
Delia Graff Fara (1969–2017), professor of philosophy at Princeton University
Leonard Harris, professor of philosophy at Purdue University
Patrick Francis Healy (1834–1910), president and professor of philosophy at Georgetown University
Joy James (born 1958), professor of humanities at Williams College
Alain LeRoy Locke (1885–1954), Harlem Renaissance leader and professor of philosophy at Howard University
John H. McClendon, professor of philosophy at Michigan State University
Michele Moody-Adams, professor of philosophy at Columbia University
Anthony Sean Neal, professor of philosophy at Mississippi State University
Huey P. Newton (1942–1989), co-founder of the Black Panther Party, PhD in social philosophy
Adrian Piper (born 1948), conceptual artist and Kantian philosopher
Tommie Shelby (born 1967), professor of African and African American studies and philosophy at Harvard University
Thomas Sowell (born 1930), political philosopher and economist, Hoover Institution senior fellow
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (born 1990), professor of philosophy at Georgetown University
Ken Taylor (1954–2019), professor of philosophy at Stanford University
Paul C. Taylor (born 1967), professor of philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles
Laurence Thomas (1949–2025), professor emeritus of philosophy and political science at Syracuse University
Cornel West (born 1953), faculty at Union Theological Seminary
George Yancy (born 1961), professor of philosophy at Emory University
Naomi Zack, professor of philosophy at Lehman College

See also