Robert J. Patterson, Ph.D. (C’02) is a professor of African American Studies and served as the inaugural chair of the Department of Black Studies at Georgetown University. He is the author of Destructive Desires: Rhythm and Blues Culture and the Politics of Racial Equality and Exodus Politics: Civil Rights and Leadership in African American Literature and Culture, co-editor of The Psychic Hold of Slavery: Legacies in American Expressive Culture, and editor of the award-winning Black Cultural Production After Civil Rights. Currently, he is working on a book titled Black Equity, Black Equality: Reparation and Black Communities and recently has completed African American Slave Narratives: a Very Short Introduction, which Oxford University Press will publish in 2026.

Patterson has worked with governmental agencies, school systems, and other organizations to develop solutions that increase diversity, cultivate inclusion, and provide equity of access and outcomes. He currently serves as the co-chair of the College Board’s Development Committee for its pilot course in African American Studies. He has also appeared on MSNBC, Fox Soul, CNN, and the British Broadcasting Channel, as well as additional media platforms, to discuss his expertise in slavery’s legacies, reparations, and racial equity more broadly.