Dr. Howard Rambsy II
The grant represents more than just funding—it's a statement about the evolving landscape of humanities scholarship and where innovation can emerge. For SIUE Distinguished Research Professor Dr. Howard Rambsy II, who led the grant proposal, the award validates years of collaborative work that began when his institution wasn't even the primary home for the project.
"It's rare for an African American literary studies initiative at a regional university like ours to receive a grant of this scale," Rambsy said. "I'm especially pleased that the grant will be based at SIUE."
The project's journey illustrates how scholarly excellence can transcend institutional hierarchies. Rambsy originally served as co-principal investigator on the Black Lit Network's first phase, which was housed at the University of Kansas from 2021-2024 with an $800,000 Mellon grant. Despite being at a different institution, Rambsy led the writing of that initial proposal and worked closely with SIUE colleagues Dr. Elizabeth Cali and Dr. Margaret Smith to make substantial contributions.
"Mellon officials took notice of our work and recognized SIUE as a strong home for the next phase," Rambsy explained.
This recognition challenges conventional wisdom about where cutting-edge digital humanities work happens. The Mellon Foundation's decision to center the project at SIUE rather than a more traditionally prestigious institution signals a broader shift in how foundations view scholarly impact and institutional capacity.
The Black Lit Network itself represents an ambitious effort to democratize access to African American literary scholarship. The platform includes several innovative components: the Literary Navigator Device, which allows users to search across hundreds of works by Black writers; "Remarkable Receptions," a podcast exploring critical responses to African American literature; and the Literary Data Gallery, featuring digital storytelling and data visualizations.
"Having the opportunity to collect and share significant content and pathways for engaging with African American literature with a large-scale audience is a gift," said Cali, who serves as SIUE co-director alongside Rambsy. "This kind of knowledge about Black literary creativity and history grows through years of study and conversation."
The project's emphasis on accessibility aligns with broader conversations in higher education about making scholarship more inclusive and publicly engaged. Rather than keeping research confined to academic circles, the Black Lit Network is designed to serve educators, students, and general readers who want to explore African American literary history.
Smith, interim director of SIUE's IRIS Center, will oversee the project's technological implementation. She sees the initiative as exemplifying how digital tools can open up new scholarly possibilities while reaching beyond traditional academic audiences.
"The Black Lit Network is a stellar example of how digital humanities projects can be powerful scholarly tools and vehicles for sparking curiosity in newcomers to the field," Smith said.
The collaborative nature of the project also reflects changing patterns in academic work. Howard Rambsy will work with his brother Dr. Kenton Rambsy, a scholar at Howard University, along with Dr. Ayesha Hardison from Indiana University as co-principal investigators and national partners.
"My younger brother Kenton and I have been collaborating for more than a decade on projects that merge African American literary studies and digital humanities," Howard Rambsy noted. "One major difference this time is that we now have significant funding to support our ideas."
