George Yancy

In 2015, Yancy published an article in the New York Times' philosophy column, The Stone, entitled "Dear White America", which proved very controversial and resulted in his receiving large amounts of hate mail and harassment. This experience later helped convince the American Philosophical Association to issue a statement denouncing bullying and harassment. It also resulted in his being added to the Professor Watchlist, a website which purports to document anti-conservative college professors, in 2016. Anne Leighton was also instrumental in bringing attention and support through creating a petition in support of Yancy. Also, 68 philosophers and intellectuals wrote a letter in his defense. In response to being placed on the Professor Watchlist, Yancy wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times entitled "I am a Dangerous Professor."

Yancy received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh cum laude in 1985, his M.A. in philosophy from Yale University in 1987, his M.A. in Africana studies from New York University (NYU) in 2004, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Duquesne University with distinction in 2005. He began teaching at Duquesne in 2005, progressing from assistant professor to full professor in just eight years, 2005-2013. After teaching at Duquesne for ten years, he moved to teach philosophy at Emory University in 2015.

George Dewey Yancy (born June 3, 1961) is an American philosopher who is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy at Emory University. He has been a professor of philosophy at Emory University since fall 2015. He is also a distinguished Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, one of the college's highest honors. He is also the editor for Lexington Books' "Philosophy of Race" book series. He is known for his work in critical whiteness studies, critical philosophy of race, critical phenomenology (especially racial embodiment), and African American philosophy, and has written, edited, or co-edited more than 20 books. He has also authored over 150 scholarly articles and chapters. Yancy has also authored numerous influential essays and conducted provocative interviews at The New York Times' philosophy column "The Stone." Yancy has been interviewed on various radio stations throughout the U.S. He has also appeared in two documentaries, Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence, an independent documentary directed by Hal Jacobs and Henry Jacobs, with support from Georgia Humanities, 2019, and Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story, a six-episode series released on July 30, 2018 on Paramount Network. Series was directed by Jenner Furts and Julia Willoughby Nason. Executive producers: Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin, Jay-Z, Chachi Senior, Michael Gasparro, Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason, and Nick Sandow.