Dr. M Keith Claybrook, Jr. Bio

Dr. M. Keith Claybrook, Jr. is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies at CSU, Long Beach where he teaches classes on Black History, Research Methods, and Critical Thinking. He is also advisor of the Black Student Union and the Black Business Student Association. Claybrook served two terms as Vice President of the Black Faculty and Staff Association and currently serves in his second term as the Faculty Co-Chair. He has also served on the Presidents Equity and Change Commission at CSU, Long Beach. He regularly attends conferences such as the National Conference of Black Studies National conference, the African Heritage Studies Association, Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus conference, and other conferences where he has presented on a diversity of topics including the Black Freedom Movement, Black Students Movement, History of Black Los Angeles, African American intellectual history, educational history, African Deep Thought and critical thinking, identity and consciousness, reparations, Hip Hop, and African-centered pedagogy. Claybrook is also a WICHE Academy for Leaders in the Humanities Fellow. He has also been recently elected to the executive board of the African American Cultural Center of Long Beach.

Claybrook is the author of Building the Basics: A Handbook for Pursuing Academic Excellence in Africana Studies which offer tips, tidbits, and suggestions for studying at home, African Deep Thought and critical thinking, critical reading and questioning, scholarly writing, working collaboratively in groups, and preparing for quizzes and exams. He is also a life-time member and regular contributor to Black Perspectives which is the award-winning blog of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) and is the leading online platform for public scholarship on global Black thought, history, and culture. Claybrook has also published in the International Journal of Africana Studies, the Journal of Black Studies, the Journal of African American Studies, and Africology: The International Journal of Pan African Studies. He has lent his expertise to “Today in L.A.” on NBC4, KJLH’s “Front Page with Dominque DePrima,” KPCC- NPR on “AirTalk with Larry Mantle,” and other television, print, and internet media outlets. He has also participated in many community programs and events. He is currently collaborating with colleagues to write a book on the Black Freedom Movement in Los Angeles as well as another project which will publish an introductory workbook on African Deep Thought, an African-centered approach to critical thinking.

Claybrook earned his doctorate in Cultural Studies with a certificate in Africana Studies from Claremont Graduate University. His dissertation was entitled “Student Engagement, Cultural Politics, and the Black Students Movement: A Case Study in Los Angeles, 1965-75.” He holds a MA in General Education with a concentration in Intercultural Education from Loyola Marymount University where his masters culminating project was entitled “African Identity and Consciousness: A Survey of Formal Education in Tanzania, Ghana, and the United States. Claybrook also holds two bachelors degrees from Loyola Marymount with the first in African American Studies with a concentration in History and his second degree in History with a concentration in Africa with a subfield in Medieval European History. He has taught at Compton Community College, CSU, Dominguez Hills, and he was born and raised in Compton, CA. Claybrook is married with four children.