Charlene A. Carruthers is a left-of-center political strategist and academic who worked as the founding national director of BYP100, a racial justice advocacy group. ¹

Carruthers defines her academic career as belonging “within Black, gender and sexuality studies,” and describes her work as being part of “what is absolutely a protracted struggle.” She has been involved in activist work and the study of radical political movements for nearly 20 years. ²

In December 2020, Carruthers was among the inaugural cohort of recipients of the Freedom Scholar prize, an award program organized by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and the Group Health Foundation (now Inatai Foundation) to foster the work of social justice scholars. ³

Background

Charlene Carruthers is a political strategist and academic who researches “Black feminist political economies” and the “abolition of patriarchal and carceral systems.” She is a Ph.D. candidate from the Department of African American Studies at Northwestern University. ^{4 5}

Carruthers defines her academic career as belonging “within Black, gender and sexuality studies,” and describes her work as being part of “what is absolutely a protracted struggle.” She has been involved in activist work and the study of radical political movements for nearly 20 years. ⁶

Career

Charlene Carruthers is an academic, author, and speaker who promotes the radical transformation of society to achieve racial and gender liberation. ⁷

In 2013, Carruthers and her professor Cathy Cohen founded BYP100 with a $350,000 grant from the Open Society Foundations. ⁸ Carruthers  was the organization’s founding national director. ⁹

In August 2019, Carruthers published a book entitled Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, And Feminist Mandate For Radical Movements. Penguin Random House’s official description of the book says it is “a manifesto from one of America’s most influential activists which disrupts political, economic, and social norms by reimagining the Black Radical Tradition.” Carruthers draws on lessons from the violent Haitian Revolution as well as the civil rights and LGBT movements to build a framework for the movements of future activists. ¹⁰

In December 2020, Carruthers was among the inaugural cohort of recipients of the Freedom Scholar prize, an award program organized by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and the Group Health Foundation (now Inatai Foundation) to foster the work of social justice scholars. She was awarded $250,000, as were academics Darrick Hamilton, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and nine others, all of whom published works on racial justice justices and post-colonialism. The official press release for the 2020 prizes stated: “The Freedom Scholars are leading research in critical fields including abolitionist, Black, feminist, queer, radical, and anti-colonialist studies. The annual award, established in 2020, counters the limited financial resources and research constraints frequently faced by scholars whose work supports social movements.” ¹¹

Carruthers also received a Mellon Interdisciplinary Cluster Fellow in Gender and Sexuality Studies. She wrote and directed a film titled The Funnel and received the Queer Black Voices Award at the 35th Annual aGLIFF Prism Film Festival. ^{12 13}

As of March 2024, Carruthers was advertising her services as a paid speaker through CCMNT Speakers, a boutique agency “at the intersections of activism and academia.” ^{14 15} Carruthers has spoken at Wellesley College, Shaw University, Princeton University, Northwestern University, and Illinois Wesleyan University, which she attended for her undergraduate degree. ¹⁶

1. “About.” Charlene Carruthers. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.charlenecarruthers.com/about.
2. “Charlene A. Carruthers.” Freedom Scholars, December 2020. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.caseygrants.org/2020-freedom-scholars/charlene-a-carruthers-msw.
3. “Marguerite Casey Foundation and Group Health Foundation Award $1.5 Million to 2021 Freedom Scholars.” Marguerite Casey Foundation, December 6, 2021. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.caseygrants.org/recent-news/marguerite-casey-foundation-and-group-health-foundation-award-1-5-million-to-2021-freedom-scholars.
4. “Charlene A. Carruthers.” Freedom Scholars, December 2020. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.caseygrants.org/2020-freedom-scholars/charlene-a-carruthers-msw.
5. “About.” Charlene Carruthers. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.charlenecarruthers.com/about.
6. “Charlene A. Carruthers.” Freedom Scholars, December 2020. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.caseygrants.org/2020-freedom-scholars/charlene-a-carruthers-msw.
7. “About.” Charlene Carruthers. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.charlenecarruthers.com/about
8. Holliday, Darryl. “The New Black Power.” Chicago Mag, February 22, 2016. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/March-2016/black-leaders/.
9. “About.” Charlene Carruthers. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.charlenecarruthers.com/about.
10. Carruthers, Charlene. “Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.” Penguin Random House, August 27, 2019. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/567155/unapologetic-by-charlene-carruthers/.
11. “Marguerite Casey Foundation and Group Health Foundation Award $1.5 Million to 2021 Freedom Scholars.” Marguerite Casey Foundation, December 6, 2021. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.caseygrants.org/recent-news/marguerite-casey-foundation-and-group-health-foundation-award-1-5-million-to-2021-freedom-scholars
12. “About.” Charlene Carruthers. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.charlenecarruthers.com/about.
13. “The Funnel (Short Film).” The Funnel Film. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://thefunnelfilm.com/.
14. “Charlene Carruthers.” X. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://twitter.com/CharleneCac.
15. “About.” CCMNT. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://ccmntspeakers.com/about/.
16. “About.” Charlene Carruthers. Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.charlenecarruthers.com/about.