Imani Perry

Imani Perry (born 1972 in Birmingham, Alabama, United States) is an American interdisciplinary scholar of race, law, literature, and African American culture. She is currently the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University.

Perry is the author of five books and has published numerous articles on law, cultural studies, and African American studies, including a book about Lorraine Hansberry.^[1] She also wrote the notes and introduction to the Barnes and Nobles Classics edition of the Narrative of Sojourner Truth.^[2] Her work is largely influenced by the Birmingham and Frankfurt Schools, Critical Legal Studies, Critical Race Theory, and African American literary criticism.^[3] Through her scholarship, Perry has made significant contributions to the academic study of race and American hip hop; she contributed a chapter to 2014's Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic.

Academia and career

Perry received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in American Studies and Literature from Yale University in 1994. She subsequently earned her Ph.D. in American Civilization from Harvard University and her J.D. from Harvard Law School (from which she graduated at the age of 27). She completed a Future Law Professor's Fellowship and received her LLM from Georgetown University Law Center.^[4] She credits her childhood exposure to diverse cultures, regions, and religions with her desire to study race.^[5]

Before joining the Princeton faculty, Perry taught at Rutgers School of Law in Camden for seven years. She received the New Professor of the Year award in her first year and was promoted to full professor at the end of five years, also winning the Board of Trustees Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence. Perry was also a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and an adjunct professor at both the Columbia University Institute for Research in African American Studies and Georgetown University Law Center.^[6]

In 2009, Perry left Rutgers to join the faculty of Princeton University. She currently holds the title of Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies and is affiliated with the Programs in Law and Public Affairs and Gender and Sexuality Studies.^[7] She has two forthcoming books, one on the history of the black national anthem (from Oxford University Press) and another on gender, neoliberalism, and the digital age (from Duke University Press).^[8]

In August 2014, Perry appeared on the public radio and podcast On Being, discussing race, community, and American consciousness with host Krista Tippett.^[9]

Perry's research interests within African American studies include:

• Citizenship
• American Politics
• Intellectual Traditions
• Neoliberalism
• Culture and Life
• Feminist Thought
• Religious Thought

Book titles

• 2018: Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry
  • Beacon Press. ISBN 0807064491
• 2018: Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation,
  • Duke University Press, 2018. ISBN 9781478000600
• 2011: More Beautiful and More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Inequality in the United States
  • New York University Press; ISBN 0814767370
• 2004: Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop
  • Duke University Press; ISBN 0822334356
• 2005: Narrative of Sojourner Truth Barnes & Noble Classics Series, Notes and Introduction
  • Barnes & Noble; ISBN 9781593082932

Selected journal publications

• Perry, Imani (2006). "Buying White Beauty". Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender. Yeshiva University. 12 (2): 579–608.
• Perry, Imani (2008). "Black Arts and Good Law: Literary Arguments for Racial Justice in the Time of Plessy" (PDF). Law, Culture and the Humanities. Sage Publications Ltd. 4 (1): 70–97. doi:10.1177/1743872107086146.
• Perry, Imani (2004). "DISMANTLING THE HOUSE OF PLESSY: A PRIVATE LAW STUDY OF RACE IN CULTURAL AND LEGAL HISTORY WITH CONTEMPORARY RESONANCES" (PDF). Studies in Law Politics and Society. Elsevier Ltd. 33 (1): 89–158. doi:10.1016/S1059-4337(04)33004-8.

See http://www.imaniperry.com/ for full list.

Controversy over Arrest

On Saturday February 6, 2016 Perry was pulled over by the Princeton New Jersey Police Department for speeding. Her vehicle was clocked at 64mph in a 45mph zone. As the Princeton Police Officer attempted to catch up to Perry, her speed increased to 67mph. The Princeton Police Officer conducted a routine check of her drivers license and it was found to be suspended due to unpaid parking tickets. A further check indicated that warrant for one of the parking tickets that was 2-3 years old. Perry was arrested for the outstanding warrant and her exterior clothing (pockets and shoes)were searched on the side of the road by the same male Princeton Police officer that pulled her over. Princeton Police policy at the time does not mandate a female officer conduct the search. Perry was asked if she had anyone to pick up her vehicle (She indicated no.) Perry was also told what her bail would be and that she would be given the opportunity to make as many phone calls as she wanted back at police station. Perry was handcuffed and transported to the police station per Princeton Police policy. Most of the traffic stop was captured on police dash cam video and the entire stop was recorded by audio.^[10] Perry was brought back to the police station and was handcuffed to a booking bench for a booking process that usually takes 15 minutes. Perry posted bail and was released in about an hour.^[11] Perry then took to Twitter and Facebook and stated that "The police treated me inappropriately and disproportionately,” “The fact of my blackness is not incidental to this matter.” Perry also stated "Yesterday, on my way to work, I was arrested in Princeton Township for a single parking ticket three years ago… The police refused to allow me to make a call before my arrest, so that someone would know where I was… There was a male and a female officer, but the male officer did the body search before cuffing me and putting me in the squad car … I was handcuffed to a table at the station … At any rate, I was afraid. Many women who look like me have a much more frightening end to such arrests … But the larger point is that I’m working to move from being shaken to renewing my commitment to the struggle against racism & carcerality.” Perry set up meeting with he Mercer County Prosecutor's Office, but canceled the meeting.^[12] However the Prosecutor's Office looked into Perry's claims and found that the police officers should be "commended, not criticized," for the way they handled the incident.^[12] Perry appeared in municipal court the month after her arrest and paid $428 in traffic fines.^[12]

Notes

External links

• Princeton University, African American Studies Department
• Princeton University, Program in Law and Public Affairs