Draft:Kyle T. Mays

Kyle T. Mays is a professor of African American Studies, Native American Studies, and History at the University of California Los Angeles. Mays focuses his studies and writings on US History, urban studies, race relations, and contemporary pop culture.

Early Life and Education
Dr. Kyle T. Mays has talked about following his passion for history and Afro-Indigenous studies through his life in numerous larger academic institutions, leading him to become the widely published figure in the Afro-Indigenous community that he is today.

Background
Mays was born part black and part Saginaw Chippewa, an indigenous American tribe native to territories in Michigan, near Detroit. His mother was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and his father was from Lansing and Detroit, Michigan. His mother was Black American and his father was Black and Saginaw Chippewa. Mays grew up experiencing a blend of both cultures to create his own identity, one that he reported he was proud of and not confused by, unlike others around him who were confused by his identity. He grew up with many questioning his identity, confused by how the conflicting cultures came together within him, saying they contradicted each other. However Mays was not confused in the slightest about his identity, saying that there is no contradiction and no reason for why black and indigenous people cannot coexist. These early interactions in his life led Mays to work towards his personal goal of honoring both cultures together in America. In his author’s note for his book An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States, Dr. Mays writes how “for me, it is essential that I include Black and Indigenous people in our collective understanding of liberation”. Mays developed his passion for history and African American and Indigenous American studies early on, to, in his words, educate those about the connections between the African American community and history with the Indigenous American community and history.

Education
After being recommended by a teacher in high school to pursue his academics in the subject of history, Mays decided to attend James Madison College at Michigan State University, graduating in 2009. To Dr. Mays, this was where he began to examine history, society, the role of race and ethnicity in the world. He learned how to effectively and productively research and create based on his research, saying that because he learned how to think broadly at James Madison College, he was able to produce richer research projects than most. Mays recounts his experiences at Madison to be where he truly began to become an effective scholar. In an article about his experience at James Madison College, Dr. Mays summarizes that “Madison was the beginning of my intellectual journey — where I learned to think critically about society, democracy and (later), race, class, gender and indigeneity”. While Mays wanted to change the way of society drastically in means of supporting race and ethnicity later in his career and in other institutions, he noticed that achieving radical change was difficult and only so much change could be achieved. However, James Madison College to him was different, and he was always able to feel belonging there, a community that supported him and listened to his ideas like not many other institutions did.

After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Relations and Policy at James Madison College at Michigan State University, he continued his education to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his Master of Arts degree in United States History in 2012. Mays went even further in his academic career to earn a Ph.D. in United States History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. To achieve his Ph.D., Dr. Mays was required to write a Dissertation Research essay, related specifically to the desired field that the Ph.D. would be in. In his case, Mays would have to write about United States history, so he decided to write about modern Detroit and examine the connections between urban history and Indigenous studies. In a summary of his dissertation, Mays writes that “this dissertation traces the role of indigeneity in the formation of modern Detroit and the impact of urban culture on the reemergence of Indigenous people”. The essay was of a topic he felt needed to be talked about, and it earned him the degree. His major in the degree was Modern United States History, and two minors of his were global indigenous studies and comparative studies of race and ethnicity, and all of these topics can be found in Mays’ dissertation.

Professions and Awards
After his time at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Mays completed his education and would enter the professional stage in his life. He started his writing journey, publishing his first book in 2018 titled 'Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes: Modernity and Hip Hop in Indigenous North America'. During this period, Mays also received many different fellowships from institutions in America, such as “the Newberry Library Research Fellowship and Carolina diversity postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill” for his studies in Urban and Afro-Indigenous culture. Other fellowships and awards that he received included the University of California Consortium for Black Studies in California Fellowship, the Institute of American Cultures (IAC) Research Grant for project, “Black Belonging, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Radical Resurgence on Turtle Island”, the Institute on Inequality and Democracy Luskin Faculty Seed Grants, Discourse and Dispossession: Culture, Language, and Black and Indigenous Freedom Dreams in Detroit", and was welcomed as a visiting scholar at the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference at Emory University. All of these awards and grants were given to him based on his skill and depth in his fields of urban and Afro-Indigenous history in the United States. Later, Dr. Mays was recruited by UCLA, where he became a professor. He teaches students about Afro-Indigenous cultures and history along with urban culture and history, and “he works with graduate students interested in 20th century urban history, comparative histories of race in the U.S., global indigeneity, and popular culture, historically and today”.

Dr. Mays was heavily involved in the history of Afro-Indigenous people in the United States and the culture of urban society relating to Afro-Indigenous people, partaking in higher education from large institutions on said topics, leading him to share his ideas about Afro-Indigenous society through his published books and journal articles.

=Books Published= Kyle Mays has published three books. While one of them is very studied and has many reviews, the other two have very few. An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States has many citations, reviews, and ratings online. City of Dispossessions, and Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes both have little information about them, and even less reviews.

=Summaries of published books= In the introduction of An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States, Kyle Mays explains his reasons for writing the book. One, his personal identity and ethnicity, and two, to visualize history from a different perspective. He continues with examples of resistance such as Wounded Knee, the Poor People’s Campaign, as well as the connections between the Red Power and Black Power movements. He concludes the book with a call to action, asking the world to have discussions on the topic. Discussions about poetry, co-existence, and kinship. He uses an informal style throughout the book to relate to his audience and keep the book from seeming too political. City of Dispossessions has been called a cultural, intellectual, and social history arguing about the history of physical and symbolic dispossession. Mays argues in the introduction that we can not understand the future and present of Detroit until we understand the history of Native and African American dispossession. The book begins with the settlement of Cadillac in 1701, and continues forward, showing how the logic of dispossession survives into the present. He uses gentrification, urban renewal, as well as the “disappearing Indian”. He also shows the contesting of dispossession, such as the Red and Black Power movements. Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes is a book chronicling the combination of Indigenous culture and hip hop culture, documenting the evolutions of the recent Indigenous generation, as well as challenging settler colonialism. It explains in detail the blending of “traditional” Indigenous music with hip hop, to challenge their oppression. It carefully treads around the ideas of stereotypes, contesting white supremacy, as well as “authenticity”. It “flips the notion of tradition on its head”, instead showing what Indigeneity could look like in the future.

=Evaluations of books= An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States has received a relatively high 4.1/5 from most bookstores, with upwards of 30 sources mentioning the book. The style has been called highly accessible to readers, however it has also been called difficult to follow, and sometimes without a structure. Mays has been criticized for his lack of strong analysis, specifically of the Indigenous way of life, and for ignoring the more prevalent women and non-conforming voices. City of Dispossessions is called ambitious, and important, as well as effective in showing how black and native americans were stereotyped, and removed from history, alongside their attempts at challenging dispossession. Other than that however, the book has been cited, but not reviewed by many sources, unlike An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States. Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes has been described as “the text against all other studies in the field will be compared.” It has been called the first full length deep dive into the culture of Indigenous hip hop, and could change the course of African, Indigenous, and even gender studies, according to Michelle Raheja, from the University of California. Not much other than this has been said, as the source is very rarely cited, and reviews are quite difficult to find.

Public Writing & Media Appearances
Mays has written many public articles for and been interviewed by a variety of prominent publications including the Washington Post, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and National Public Radio. His articles have focused on subjects such as Native Americans relationship with modernity, African-Americans, intersectionality, decolonization, and Afro-Indigenous people". Mays views in articles could be described as leftist and anti-materialist. Mays has written several articles praising Native American hip hop culture which he sees as a path for preservation of culture in the modern world for Indigenous communities.

In 2015, Mays wrote an opinion article on Decolonization about how Indigenous people should embrace modernity through hip hop. In the article he claims that there is a strong association between being white and being modern. He writes that when Indigenous people participate in hip hop culture “they contradict the idea that Indigenous people are relics of the past, incapable of engaging with and producing modernity." Additionally Mays believes that Indigenous hip hop artists and producers taking up "a cultural artifact that emerged out of urban spaces, also challenge mainstream conceptions of the incompatibility of Indigenous people and urban spaces.”

In 2017, Mays wrote an article titled “‘I ghost dance over drums, my music speaks to the young’: Thoughts on Settler Colonialism, Contemporary Culture & Politics, and the Rise of the Indigenous Hip Hop Millennials” for the non-profit organization Arts in a Changing America. In the article Mays outlines a four-step process of settler colonialism starting with “the construction of white American identity and the U.S. nation state upon Indigenous dispossession and African enslavement”, followed by “the physical dispossession of Indigenous bodies and land while the settler state is emerging and quickly growing.” Mays claims that after the dispossession of Indigenous people settler colonialism “renders actual Indigenous people invisible” by educating “the general population with propaganda that tells them that Native people barely exist, and if they do, they live on some far away reservation” and finally he claims that “to fully implement and solidify settler colonialism’s goal (even if it is still just an idea), the settler state memorializes Indigenous histories and people.” He goes on to describe Native American hip hop as an “an anthem, a voice, and a cultural movement that has given a renewed sense of resistance to settler colonialism.”

May’s open letter “Indigenous Men, Here Are Things That We Need To Stop Doing” was featured on the forum Native Appropriations and received some criticism after several Native American women came out claiming that they had experienced problematic behavior from May.

In 2019, Mays was interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation about Indigenous hip hop and its relationship with Indigenous masculinity. He focused on Indigenous artists such as Frank Waln and said “[they] talk about issues like water, and they actively try to understand their own masculinity and dismantle patriarchy in their own everyday lives, but also in their music, by talking about issues that impact all of us. And I think, to me, that's very, very important.” He later writes “My Stone” by Frank Waln “was a really touching song, and I would even go so far as to say [it was] a way to help me heal in certain, particular ways. And it also reminded me of Tupac's track Dear Mama — just like, I love my mother and this is a way for us to heal together.”

Mays wrote a Washington Post op-ed in 2020 titled “Malcolm X warned us about the pitfalls of Black celebrities as leaders.” In it Mays writes about the problems posed by using Black celebrities as spokespeople of African-Americans because of the stark difference of realities that regular African-Americans face. He notes that while some black celebrities “might be able to use their celebrity to advocate for the most vulnerable, other celebrities might be manipulated or pressed to stand for political positions that could undermine the majority of Black Americans’ political interests.” Additionally he believes that a problem with having black celebrities represent the black community is that “their positions might also be taken as representative of the sentiments of the Black community, even when their experiences were very different from the majority’s.” His article first focuses on Jackie Robinson’s incentivized criticism of black activist Paul Robeson before going on to present Malcolm X’s arguments against using black celebrities as leaders. Mays claims that Malcolm X “criticized the idea of Black celebrity as a leadership class that could be trusted with leading social transformation.” He claims that “for Malcolm, Black celebrities — who had proximity to capital, fame and fortune — could not be aligned or reconciled with the ‘Black masses.’” Mays points out that Malcolm X saw black celebrities “as a group separate from the people they claimed to represent.” He finishes the article by reflecting the beliefs of Malcolm X in the world today and concludes that the media’s focus on black celebrities “obscures the voices of ordinary Black people, whose lives are vastly different from those who have wealth and visibility.”

Following the 2020 Presidential election, Mays wrote “Hip Hop Democracy and the Future of Our Freedom” as an op-ed for The Source. In the article Mays argues that hip hop should continue to be used as an instrument of social change. In the article Mays claims that “Hip Hop Nation has always been political. From its inception, rappers and taggers used their voice and visual expressions to tell stories about the condition of poor, working-class Black and Latinx communities.” He later goes on to conclude that, “It doesn’t matter what the elites in our communities do. As long as those on the ground continue to struggle, we will get our freedom.”

In 2020, Mays wrote another op-ed for The Source named “Native American Hip Hop: Rhymes and Stories From the City to the Rez” in which he writes about the Native American hip hop scene. He focuses on issues surrounding Indigenous stereotypes being used in hip hop culture and how various Native American hip hop artists incorporate elements of their heritage while breaking stereotypes. He claims that “Native Hip Hop artists struggle with a double-burden: produce ‘authentic’ Native expressive culture for themselves and their community and also deal with the ever-present Native stereotypes. Given this burden, many artists can sacrifice creative expression for trying to challenge, critique, and disrupt tropes about who they are. Nevertheless, NAAH is diverse, wide-ranging, and covers the endless ground, from the Rez to the hood.”

Mays was interviewed for the 2023 Washington Post article “Native Americans call for reparations from ‘land-grab’ universities” and by Rachel Hatzipanagos. In the article he is vocalizes support for joint efforts for black and indigenous reparations. He also criticizes colleges’ restitutions for not creating real structural change and only offering reparations to a handful of people. He believes that offering free tuition is not a meaningful form of reparations and that much more should be done to address this issue. Mays also said of reparations that “I do not see how much compensation you can get for a mass amount of genocide without trying to restructure economies at large scale, restructure how we connect with land, and how we utilize land. Which I just do not see is possible under capitalism in a certain way.”

Research
After earning a Ph.D. at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in 2015, Kyle T Mays contributed to Indigenous Detroit research, studying Indigeneity, Modernity, and Racial and Gender Formation in a Modern American City. As part of the 2013-2014 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Department of History Research Fellowship, he conducted research focusing on oral histories and archival materials gathered during his time in Detroit. Additionally, he participated in the 2013 Newberry Consortium in American Indian Studies Research Fellowship, where his research was on the Newberry Library's collection on Midwestern Indigenous culture and history. In 2011-2012, Mays engaged in a year-long study that examined the language and literacy practices of African American male adolescents. This research project was conducted as part of the My Brother's Keeper Program, a collaboration between Michigan State University and the Paul Robeson-Malcolm X Academy in Detroit, Michigan, with a focus on their participation in a Critical Sports Pedagogy. Lastly, from 2009 to 2010, under the guidance of Dr. Geneva Smitherman, Mays analyzed primary documents to use while writing a history of the African American and African Studies Program at Michigan State University. These many experiences show that Mays has a passion for exploring and advocating for African Americans and indigenous peoples' rights and equality, and has a dedication to research and expanding knowledge in these areas of study.

Teaching experiences
Kyle T Mays has a background in teaching, which is connected to his leadership qualities. In 2021, he taught courses such as "The Black Celebrity Class," "Indigenous Methods," and "Black Folks Kung Fu Fightin': Black America, Martial Arts, and Popular Culture" at the University of California, Los Angeles. These courses allowed him to explore topics related to race, identity, and popular culture, promoting discussions and empowering students to engage with activism. In 2019, Mays taught "Advanced Historiography of American Indian Peoples" and "Introduction to American Indian Studies" at UCLA, contributing to the understanding and appreciation of indigenous cultures and histories. At the University of Los Angeles, California, in 2018, he taught "MillennialsMillennials Are Us: Race, Gender, and Decolonization," highlighting the intersections of race, gender, and social justice in society. Before being at UCLA, Mays taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he explored the impact of urbanization on American cities. He also taught a course called "Indigenous Histories of Place: Indigenous People, Local Narratives, and Modernity" at West Virginia University. At the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, he was a teaching assistant for courses on Western Civilization and U.S. History. Mays later taught a unique course titled "Rappin and Reppin History: Exploring Culture, Language, and U.S. History through Hip Hop Culture" at the Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center, using hip-hop culture for historical and cultural exploration. Through his teaching experiences, Kyle T Mays shows a commitment to encouraging critical thinking, social awareness, and activism among his students.

Speeches
Kyle T Mays' guest lectures and invited talks also demonstrate how he promotes activism and social change. In his speech "Hip Hop as Sacred Medicine?", he explores Indigenous rap music and its role in Indigenous popular culture. Through the talk "Black Indigeneity and Dispossession", Mays sheds light on the historical and present struggles faced by Black and Indigenous communities. He also focuses on a shared future in, for example, the speech "Afro-Indigeneity: The Meanings and Possibilities of Our Shared Future" and "All My People Rise Up!: Blackness, Indigenous Popular Culture, and the Limits and Possibilities of Cultural Solidarity." Mays' speeches address issues such as language and antiblackness in Indigenous and Black communities. “We must recognize antiblackness (and anti-Indianness, too!) as a core part of this country’s material and psychological development,” he says. David Hugill from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, says, "I appreciate Mays's insistence on how our language and concepts too easily reproduce troubling ways of engaging the world and defining peoples, and especially how this works through antiblackness, as well as the patient articulation of how Black indigeneity persists via language, action, and epistemology." By addressing topics like urban Indigenous history, decolonization, and the construction of indigeneity, Mays encourages his audience to examine the intersections of race, indigeneity, and activism. During an event for the University of Michigan’s Native American Heritage Month, Mays delivers a speech focusing on how people can respond to ongoing violence against Black Americans and Native people. Mays states, “I want to emphasize that Black and Native people are not natural allies right now. Collaboration and activism that work to include all of us is hard and difficult work. It takes a lot of work to deal with issues around lateral violence. It takes meeting together it takes getting on each other's nerves, it takes good food.” Activism and influencing people to act on racial issues in the United States are very important to Mays, and the many lectures, speeches, and events he has attended as a speaker demonstrate this.

Influence
An article written by Kyle T Mays titled “What Did Malcolm X Mean by Black Land for Black Liberation?” posted on May 19th, 2022, explains the influence that “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” had on him, and how he has read it “every summer since [he] was sixteen; it is [his] favorite book.”. Mays states how “Racism had impacted my life in ways I had never really thought about, and Malcolm gave me the language to understand it. The book changed my life.”. By having a significant figure to look up to within the American Black nationalist movement, Mays understands how to “frame the Black American condition in colonial terms, even [if] those terms were imperfect.”. Others say that Kyle T Mays also has a strong influence on many, including his students, readers of his books, listeners of his speeches and lectures, as well as just the people around him. One example of Mays influencing others is in the article “A Provocation of The Modes of Black Indigeneity: Culture, Language, Possibilities” published in the summer of 2021. In this essay, he explores the meaning of the term Black Indigeneity and how African Americans have used it to continue to express their culture. According to Kyle T Mays, "We view blackness and indigeneity as two separate entities." However, African Americans have used the concept of Black Indigeneity to create a sense of belonging. Mays explains how “Afro-Indigenous Studies is a field of study that intersects the disciplines of Black Studies, Indigenous Studies, and explores the relationship between African descended peoples in the US, Native Americans, and those who are descendants of tribal nations or through the act of enslavement.” Through studying Black Indigeneity and Afro-Indigenous Studies, people who have both African and Indigenous heritage have found ways to feel like they belong and express their culture. They do this by exploring their shared history and the land they live on. This helps them connect with their roots and keep their traditions alive.