Ray Black - Colorado State University Best Teacher Awards

Ray Black is an assistant professor of ethnic studies focusing on African American studies; he has been at Colorado State University for just over two years. He is interested in the African American experience in the U.S., with a primary academic focus on representations of black life in the slave narratives and other 19th century documents, and how these depictions use literary irony and the folkloric trickster to conceal various modes of survival. His current research is on how current students of color succeed in higher education. Black has taught early childhood education (Head Start), been a coordinator for a non-profit program seeking to keep young men of color in high school, and led campaigns for reform-minded school board candidates. He follows the lesson of one of his teachers: “All students are flowers. Some take longer to bloom.” For more videos about CSU, check out Colorado State University’s YouTube channel at