Joseph Derrick Nelson, PhD is a writer, teacher-educator, and sociologist of race, gender, and education. He is Associate Professor of Educational Studies and Chair of the Black Studies Program at Swarthmore College. Nelson is also the Research Director of SPARC at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on race and gender equity in K-12 education, and he is a Research Affiliate with the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research explores how schools can be “(re)imaginative” and “liberatory” institutions for Black children and youth, especially Black boys from neighborhoods with concentrated poverty. Nelson has published extensively, co-founded The Listening Project, and serves as Editor of the journal Men and Masculinities.