Ibram X. Kendi

The author was born Ibram Henry Rogers in Queens, New York in 1982. (He changed his middle name because of its associations with slavery related to both his great-great grandfather and the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator; he and his wife Sadiqua both changed their last names when they were married.) How to Be An Antiracist is part memoir, part cultural theory, as Kendi explores his past in order to chronicle his education about racism (as well as gender and sexuality). He grew up in Queens before moving to Manassas, Virginia when he was 15 years old. After finishing high school there, he attended Florida A&M University, a historically Black college, for his undergraduate degree. He then moved on to Temple University in Philadelphia where he earned his doctorate in African American Studies.

After finishing graduate school, Kendi taught at SUNY Oneonta, then the University of...