Yaba Blay is a Ghanaian-American professor, scholar-activist, public speaker, cultural worker, and consultant. She is originally from

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, West Africa, and was raised in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Her scholarship, work, and practice center on the lived experiences of

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

women and girls, with a particular focus on identity politics and beauty practices. A social media activist, she has launched several viral campaigns, including Locs of Love, #PrettyPeriod, and #ProfessionalBlackGirl, in her multi-platform digital community. In 2012, Blay served as a producer on CNN's television documentary, "Who is Black in America?". She has since been named one of today's leading Black voices by 'The Root 100', and ''

Essence Essence () has various meanings and uses for different thinkers and in different contexts. It is used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property (philosophy), property or set of properties or attributes that make an entity the ...

'' Magazine's 'Woke 100.' She has appeared on

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and her work has been featured in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

EBONY Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

'', ''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

'', ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

,''

ColorLines ''Colorlines'' is a digital news platform that publishes political content focusing on social justice and progressive activism. History ''Colorlines'' was founded in 1998 as a print publication published jointly by the Applied Research Center ( ...

, and

The Root "The Root" is a song by American recording artist D'Angelo. It is the eighth track on his second studio album, '' Voodoo'', which was released on January 25, 2000, by Virgin Records. "The Root" was recorded and produced by D'Angelo at New York's ...

. Her commentary is featured in ''A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond,'' a permanent installation exhibited in the

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 an ...

. She is also the author of the award-winning ''One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race''.

Education

Blay was born and raised in

, US, where her Ghanaian parents had relocated. She received her B.A. in psychology (

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

) from

Salisbury State University Salisbury University is a public university in Salisbury, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1925, Salisbury University is a member of the University System of Maryland, with a fall 2022 enrollment of 7,123. Salisbury University offers unde ...

, her M.Ed. in counseling psychology from the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...

, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in African American studies with a Graduate Certificate in women's studies from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

. She has also taught on the faculties of Lehigh University, Lafayette College, and Drexel University, where she served as the director of the Africana Studies program, and was the former Dan Blue Endowed Chair in Political Science at

North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliati ...

Career

Blay is the author of ''One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race'' and artistic director of the One Drop project. In ''One Drop'', she explores the interconnected nuances of skin color politics and racial identity, and challenges perceptions of blackness as both an identity and lived reality. In 2012, she served as a consulting producer for CNN Black in America - ''Who is Black in America?'' - a television documentary inspired by the scope of her One Drop project. She also co-produced a transmedia film (''So Young So Pretty So White'') focused on the global practice of skin bleaching with director Terence Nance. While her broader research interests are related to African cultural aesthetics, aesthetic practices, and global Black popular culture, Blay's specific research interests lie within global Black identities and the politics of embodiment, with particular attention given to hair and skin color politics. Her 2007 dissertation, ''Yellow Fever: Skin Bleaching and the Politics of Skin Color in Ghana'', relies upon African-centered and African feminist methodologies to investigate the social practice of skin bleaching in

. Her ethnographic case study of skin color and identity in New Orleans, entitled ''"Pretty Color and Good Hair'', is featured as part of the anthology ''Blackberries and Redbones: Critical Articulations of Black Hair/Body Politics in Africana Communities''.

Research and selected writings

Research
''One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race''
2013.
"Yellow Fever: Skin Bleaching and the Politics of Skin Color in Ghana"

"Pretty Color and Good Hair"
Selected writings

* ttp://www.cnn.com/2013/09/10/living/identity-opinion-yaba-blay-dreadlocks-brown-girl/ "Tell a Brown Girl She's Pretty, Dreadlocks and all"
"Color Me Beautiful: A Dark Girl Reflects on 'Dark Girls'"

"Soledad O'Brien: Who is Black in America? I Am"

"Who's Black, Who's Not, and Who Cares?"

"One Drop"

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''Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies'' (no. 14) [Guest Editor
/nowiki>">uest Editor">''Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies'' (no. 14) [Guest Editor
/nowiki>
"'Ahɔɔfe Kasa!': Skin Bleaching and the Function of Beauty among Ghanaian Women"

* "[https://books.google.com/books?id=B667ATiedQkC&pg=PT99 Asamando]"
"Color Symbolism"

"Cromanti"
Television writing *''Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom'' (2022) (co-writer) IMDB website
/ref>

References

External links

Dr Yaba Blay
website
"Yaba Blay, Ph.D."
The Daniel T. Blue Endowed Chair, North Carolina Central University
"Imagine Otherwise: Yaba Blay on Everyday Black Girl Magic"
December 13, 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blay, Yaba Living people 1974 births North Carolina Central University faculty African-American women academics American women academics 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics