Farah Jasmine Griffin

Farah Jasmine Griffin is the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies at Columbia University. She also serves as Program Director for The Schomburg Center’s Scholars-in-Residence Program. Professor Griffin received her B.A. from Harvard, where she majored in American History and Literature and her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale. Her major fields of interest are American and African American literature, music, history and politics. She has published widely on issues of race and gender, feminism and cultural politics. Griffin is the author of Who Set You Flowin?: The African American Migration Narrative (Oxford, 1995), If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday (Free Press, 2001) and co-author, with Salim Washington, of Clawing At the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever (Thomas Dunne, 2008). Her most recent book, Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II was published by Basic Books in 2013. Professor Griffin’s essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar, Art Forum and numerous other publications. She also wrote the book for Geri Allen’s A Conversation with Mary Lou, directed by S. Epatha Merkenson and featuring vocalist, Carmen Lundy. The performance premiered at Harlem Stage in 2014. Griffin Is a frequent radio commentator on political and cultural issues.