List of African American philosophers

This is an incomplete list of notable African American philosophers. For other African Americans, see Lists of African Americans.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

• Anita L. Allen (born 1953), professor of law and philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• William B. Allen (born 1944), political philosopher and politician
• Kwame Anthony Appiah (born 1954), professor of law and philosophy at New York University
• Molefi Kete Asante (born 1942), professor of Africology at Temple University
• Moya Bailey, professor at Northwestern University, coined misogynoir
• Thomas Nelson Baker Sr. (1860–1940), first African American to receive a PhD in philosophy in the United States
• Kathryn Sophia Belle (born 1978), professor of philosophy at Pennsylvania State University
• Patricia Hill Collins (born 1948), professor of sociology emerita at the University of Maryland
• Tommy J. Curry, professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburgh
• Angela Davis (born 1944), professor emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz
• William Fontaine (1909–1968), professor at the University of Pennsylvania
• Cornelius Golightly (1917–1976), associate dean and professor of philosophy at Wayne State University
• Lewis Gordon (born 1962), professor of philosophy and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut
• Delia Graff Fara (1969–2017), professor of philosophy at Princeton University
• Leonard Harris, professor of philosophy at Purdue University
• Patrick Francis Healy (1834–1910), president and professor of philosophy at Georgetown University
• Joy James (born 1958), professor of humanities at Williams College
• Alain LeRoy Locke (1885–1954), Harlem Renaissance leader and professor of philosophy at Howard University
• John H. McClendon, professor of philosophy at Michigan State University
• Michele Moody-Adams, professor of philosophy at Columbia University
• Anthony Sean Neal, professor of philosophy at Mississippi State University
• Huey P. Newton (1942–1989), co-founder of the Black Panther Party, PhD in social philosophy
• Adrian Piper (born 1948), conceptual artist and Kantian philosopher
• Tommie Shelby (born 1967), professor of African and African American studies and philosophy at Harvard University
• Thomas Sowell (born 1930), political philosopher and economist, Hoover Institution senior fellow
• Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (born 1990), professor of philosophy at Georgetown University
• Ken Taylor (1954–2019), professor of philosophy at Stanford University
• Paul C. Taylor (born 1967), professor of philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles
• Laurence Thomas (1949–2025), professor emeritus of philosophy and political science at Syracuse University
• Cornel West (born 1953), faculty at Union Theological Seminary
• George Yancy (born 1961), professor of philosophy at Emory University
• Naomi Zack, professor of philosophy at Lehman College

See also

• Africana philosophy
• Collegium of Black Women Philosophers
• List of African-American non-fiction writers