Draft:Lessie Branch

Lessie Branch is an American public and urban policy scholar who focuses on equity and social justice. Branch, a U.S. Navy Veteran, is currently the Special Assistant for Community Engagement at The New York State Department of Veterans’ Services. Prior to this role she held the rank of Associate Dean and Associate Professor in the School for Business at Metropolitan College of New York and was the first Woman of Color to be elected the Region 1 Chair for Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) in 2019.

Branch is the Author of Optimism At All Costs: Black Attitudes, Activism, and Advancement in Obama’s America and a contributing author to Reimagining Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Survival Beyond 2020. Her writings have appeared in Blavity, Diverse Education, Gotham Gazette, The Bronx Times, and Scholars Strategy Network. Her 2016 TEDx Talk discusses the reality of socioeconomic inequality and ways to upend post-racial neoliberal narratives that allege that race is no longer tied to socioeconomic outcomes and life chances.

Optimism At All Costs: Black Attitudes, Activism, and Advancement in Obama’s America In the wake of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential victory, most Americans believed that race relations would improve. While many leaders rallied behind the first black president and the black community felt optimistic on the whole, statistics reveal a decline in black Americans' economic fortunes and a slower recovery from the recession in the years that followed.

Lessie B. Branch confronts the tension between black Americans' economic realities and the hope many felt for the future, looking at survey data alongside the rhetoric of leading black figures, including President Obama. This disparity has caused a dangerous resistance to social activism, as discourses of optimism privilege individual success over the need for collective action. Branch sees the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement as a constructive change in this dynamic. As Americans continue to grapple with complicated questions of race and progress in classrooms, in the media, and in legislatures, this short, provocative book will inform and enrich these important discussions.

Education

Branch earned her Ph.D. and M.Phil. in public and urban policy from The New School, as well an M.A. In Politics. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Fordham University.

Selected Works

This tragedy defines us, but it doesn’t have to! https://www.bxtimes.com/op-ed-thistragedy-defines-us/ January 2022.

Scholars Strategy Network, Social Knowledge, the Rhetoric of Public Policy, and Black Progress in America. https://scholars.org/brief/social-knowledge-rhetoric-public-policy-and-black-progress-america, July 2018.

Reexamining the ‘Obama Effect’: How Barack Obama Spread Optimistic Colorblindness in the Age of Inequality. The Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, 6 (3/4): 99-111 2016.

Selected Public Media

The Borough of Universities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffjGPxYEarg, October 2019.

Optimism At All Costs: Black Attitudes, Activism and Advancement in Obama’s America New Books Network Podcast, https://newbooksnetwork.com/lessie-b-branch-optimism-at-all-costs-black-attitudes-activism-and-advancement-in-obamas-america-u-massachusetts-press-2018/, August 2018.

Narrative Matters: What’s Your Story. TEDx Bergen Community College. Paramus, NJ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMTi-2bHAro, 2016.

HERe ME Podcast In 2020, three months into the pandemic, in the midst of an isolated and racially divided society, Branch connected with a former student to launch a society and culture podcast called HERe ME. The podcast’s name is at the intersection of her, me, here, and the homonym, hear! HERe ME is about “Black women defying the narratives that shape us. HERe ME weaves contemporary and historical weekly conversations to create stronger bonds and lasing legacies. HERe ME is a sacred space where we discuss and defy narratives that shape and define who society says Black women are and find common ground on the things that unite us. She is me, I am her and we are HERe ME.”