Derrick Darby

Dr. Derrick Darby is a Henry Rutgers Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He is the founding director of the Rutgers Social Justice Solutions Research Collaboratory and also directs its Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy.

In social and political philosophy, he writes about rights, inequality, education, identity, and democracy. He thinks about how race and racism bear on theoretical, normative and practical philosophical questions.

His books include: A Realistic Blacktopia: Why We Must Unite to Fight (2023); The Color of Mind: Why the Origins of the Achievement Gap Matter for Justice with John L. Rury ( 2018); Rights, Race, and Recognition (2009); and Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme to Reason with Tommie Shelby (2005). His scholarship has been funded by the Spencer Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies.