George Yancy


George Dewey Yancy is an American philosopher who is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy at Emory University. He is a distinguished Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, one of the college's highest honors. In 2019–20, he was the University of Pennsylvania's Inaugural Provost's Distinguished Visiting Faculty Fellow. He is the editor of the book series "Philosophy of Race" at Bloomsbury Publishing. He is known for his work in critical whiteness studies, critical philosophy of race, critical phenomenology, and African American philosophy, and has written, edited, or co-edited more than 20 books. In his capacity as an academic scholar and a public intellectual, he has published over 250 combined scholarly articles, chapters, and interviews that have appeared in professional journals, books, and at various news sites.
Yancy has authored numerous essays and conducted interviews at both The New York Times philosophy column "The Stone," and at Truthout, which is "a nonprofit news organization dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social justice issues." Additionally, he has published at CounterPunch, The Guardian, Inside Higher Ed, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. At "Academic Influence," Yancy has been called one of the top 10 influential philosophers in the decade spanning 2010–2020, due in part to the number of citations and web presence. Yancy was also the winner of the 2024 Public Philosophy Network's Leadership Award. The Award recognizes the long-term and substantive contributions of philosophers to public philosophy. As of 2025, Yancy is the founder of "Candid Conversations with George Yancy." The inaugural event consisted of an exciting, engaging, and philosophically fecund and robust conversation with philosophers Cornel West and Judith Butler on October 29, 2025.

Education and career

Yancy received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh cum laude in 1985, his M.A. in philosophy from Yale University in 1987, his M.A. in Africana studies from New York University in 2004, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Duquesne University with distinction in 2005. He began teaching at Duquesne in 2005, progressing from assistant professor to full professor in eight years, 2005–2013. After teaching at Duquesne for ten years, he moved to teach philosophy at Emory University in 2015.
As an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, Yancy wrote his undergraduate honors thesis on Bertrand Russell's Sense Data theory. His honors thesis was directed by American philosopher and epistemologist Wilfrid Sellars. Also at Pitt, he studied Kant under Nicholas Rescher, studied with Adolf Grunbaum on Freud's theory of religion, studied Martin Heidegger under John Haugeland, and took a graduate seminar on Plato taught by Mary Louise Gill, and modern philosophy under Annette Baier. Yancy also took a course entitled Human Nature taught by prominent political theorist John W. Chapman, which explored questions of human nature from Plato to Marx, Sartre, Freud and Skinner. While at Yale University, he took graduate seminars with eminent philosophers such as John Edwin Smith, Maurice Natanson, Rulon Wells, and others. While at New York University, Yancy took a seminar on democracy with political and economic theorist Leonard Wantchekon, a Black history course with historian Robert Hinton, and a seminar with poet Kamau Brathwaite in which Yancy was exposed to surrealism, magical realism, and radical decolonial ways to rethink W. Shakespeare's The Tempest. The Consortium that existed between NYU and Columbia University allowed Yancy to enroll in a seminar on Gender and the Diaspora taught by cultural anthropologist Donna Daniels at Columbia University. Yancy also wrote his MA thesis under the direction of Columbia University's comparative literary theorist Farah Griffin. While at Duquesne University, Yancy wrote his dissertation on race and embodiment under philosopher Fred Evans.

Media appearances

Yancy has been interviewed on various radio stations throughout the U.S. He has also appeared in three documentaries, the six-episode series Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story, Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence, and interviewed for and appeared in the Netflix documentary, Power, by Oscar nominated American film producer, Yance Ford, on policing in America.

"Dear White America"

In 2015 Yancy published an article in the New York Times' philosophy column, The Stone, entitled "Dear White America". The article generated considerable controversy, resulting in him receiving large amounts of hate mail and harassment. This experience later helped convince the American Philosophical Association to issue a statement denouncing bullying and harassment. It also resulted in Yancy being added to the Professor Watchlist, a website which purports to document anti-conservative college professors, in 2016. He received over 1,000 messages of support. 68 philosophers and intellectuals signed a letter in his defense, supporting his freedom and the freedom of others to engage in philosophical discussions regarding major social and political issues. In response to being placed on the Professor Watchlist, Yancy wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times entitled "I am a Dangerous Professor."

Works

Books

  • The Innocence is the Crime: On the Freedom to Think Otherwise. Introduction and all interviews conducted by George Yancy. .
  • Facing James Baldwin's Question of the Ni**er: The Need for White Courage and the Reality of Black Frustration. Edited by George Yancy and Timothy Golden. Separate introductions by George Yancy and Timothy Golden..
  • Open Casket: Philosophical Meditations on the Lynching of Emmett Till. Edited by George Yancy and A. Todd Franklin. Separate introductions by George Yancy and A. Todd Franklin..
  • Black Bodies, White Gazes, The Continuing Significance of Race in America..
  • In Sheep's Clothing: The Idolatry of White Christian Nationalism. Edited by George Yancy and Bill Bywater. Separate introductions by George Yancy and Bill Bywater; Foreword by J. Kameron Carter..
  • Until Our Lungs Give Out: Conversations on Race, Justice, and the Future.. Winner, Best Book, Library Journal, 2023, and Winner of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2024.
  • Black Men from Behind the Veil: Ontological Interrogations. Edited and introduction by George Yancy. Selected as a "Top 75 Community College Title" by Choice, under Social & Behavioral Sciences, November 2022.
  • Across Black Spaces: Essays and Interviews from an American Philosopher.
  • Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections. Co-edited and Introductory comments with Emily McRae
  • Educating For Critical Consciousness. Edited with Introduction by George Yancy
  • Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America.
  • On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis.
  • Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race in America, Second Edition. Foreword by Linda Alcoff.
  • Our Black Sons Matter: Mothers Talk about Fears, Sorrows, and Hopes. Co-edited with Maria del Guadalupe Davidson and Susan Hadley. Introduction by George Yancy. Afterword by Farah Jasmine Griffin.. This book was a STARRED Review and was also selected as the Booklist Top 10 List of the Best Diverse Nonfiction Titles in 2017.
  • White Self-Criticality beyond Anti-Racism: How Does It Feel to Be a White Problem? Edited with introduction by George Yancy.
  • Exploring Race in Predominantly White Classrooms: Scholars of Color Reflect.. Co-edited with Maria Del Guadalupe Davidson. Co-authored Introduction and additional submission of chapter.
  • Pursuing Trayvon Martin: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Manifestations of Racial Dynamics. Co-edited and co-authored Introduction with Janine Jones and additional submission of chapter.. The first paperback edition of this book was published in 2014 along with a new preface written by the editors.
  • Look, A White! Philosophical Essays on Whiteness. Foreword by Naomi Zack.
  • Christology and Whiteness: What Would Jesus Do? Edited with Introduction by George Yancy.
  • Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy.
  • Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip-Hop. Co-edited and co-authored Introduction with Susan Hadley.
  • The Center Must Not Hold: White Women Philosophers on the Whiteness of Philosophy. Foreword by Sandra Harding. Edited with Introduction by George Yancy.. The Center Must Not Hold: White Women Philosophers on the Whiteness of Philosophy was reprinted in paperback edition in 2011.
  • Critical Perspectives on bell hooks. Co-edited with Maria Del Guadalupe Davidson. Co-authored Introduction and additional submission of chapter.
  • Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race. Foreword by Linda Alcoff.. Received Honorable Mention from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights.
  • Philosophy in Multiple Voices. Edited with Introduction by George Yancy.. Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award for 2009.
  • Narrative Identities: Psychologists Engaged in Self-Construction. Co-edited with Susan Hadley. Preface by Yancy and Hadley.
  • White on White/Black on Black. Foreword by Cornel West. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy.. Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award for 2005.
  • What White Looks Like: African American Philosophers on the Whiteness Question. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy.
  • The Philosophical I: Personal Reflections on Life in Philosophy. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy.
  • Cornel West: A Critical Reader. Afterword by Cornel West. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy.
  • African-American Philosophers: 17 Conversations. Edited with Introduction, and all interviews conducted by George Yancy.. Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award for 1999.