(SeaPRwire) –   Twenty Faculty Awards Back Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

NEW YORK, April 7, 2026 — The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is pleased to reveal the 2026 recipients of the ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowship and Grant Program, which supports outstanding research by faculty in the humanities and interpretive social sciences at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Eight fellows will receive up to $50,000 each to fund long-term work on a research project. Twelve grantees will get up to $10,000 each to support project development and smaller-scale research initiatives.

“This year’s 20 awards support faculty at 18 distinct HBCUs—large and small, private and public,” stated Nike Nivar Ortiz, ACLS Program Officer for U.S. Programs. “The range of institutions, academic fields, and research approaches represented in this year’s recipients underscores the depth of scholarship across the HBCU system. ACLS is proud to continue supporting faculty at HBCUs, which play a critical role in American higher education and history.”

This year’s funded projects cover local HBCU and community histories, urgent national issues, key literary figures, and complex transnational movements. Supported initiatives include a history of African American Union soldiers who founded Lincoln University of Missouri; an analysis of women’s political participation in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1930 to 1965; an exploration of the moral, economic, and legal arguments for Black reparations; and a study of marginalized perspectives in African diasporic opera. The research spans a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including African American studies, linguistics, philosophy, religious studies, and theater and performance studies.

Learn more about the 2026 ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellows and Grantees and their projects.

Now in its third year, the program was developed in collaboration with HBCU faculty and administrators to address the unique teaching and service commitments of HBCU faculty. The awards include networking and professional development opportunities, plus an additional $2,500 grant to the recipient’s home institution to support humanities programming or infrastructure.

The ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowship and Grant Program is primarily funded by the ACLS endowment, which has benefited from the generous support of esteemed funders, institutional members, and individual donors since the council’s founding in 1919.

Founded a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 81 scholarly organizations. As the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, ACLS upholds the core principle that knowledge is a public good. By supporting its member organizations, ACLS expands the forms, content, and flow of scholarly knowledge, reflecting its commitment to diversity of identity and experience. ACLS collaborates with institutions, associations, and individuals to strengthen the evolving infrastructure for scholarship.

SOURCE American Council of Learned Societies