Toniesha L. Taylor

Toniesha L. Taylor is a Professor of Communication in the Communication Studies Department in the School of Communication at Texas Southern University and Director of the Center for Africana Futures. Dr. Taylor’s research agenda focuses on the intersections of race, digital media, and higher education, with particular attention to Black womanist perspectives, digital activism, and justice-centered pedagogy. Her work examines how digital platforms shape racial discourse, campus climate, and community-engaged scholarship, as well as the cultural and political implications of digital communication in African American communities.

Her recent scholarship centers on womanist rhetoric as method and theory, practical social justice pedagogy, and digital humanities approaches to activist recovery and cultural memory. Her publications include “Black Parade: Marching toward a Future of Resistance and Renewal in Texas Education,” Communication and Democracy 59, no. 1 (2025), as well as “World-Making or World-Breaking?: A Black Womanist Perspective on Social Media Crises in Higher Education,” Communication Education 68, no. 3, and “Signifying Shade as We #RaceTogether Drinking Our #NewStarbucksDrink ‘White Privilege Americana Extra Whip,’” in Digital Black Atlantic.

Dr. Taylor was a core collaborator on DEFCon, a Mellon Foundation–funded digital humanities initiative focused on increasing collaboration and inclusion of scholars of color, which successfully concluded in 2025. She is the founding Director of the Center for Africana Futures and an affiliate of the Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies at New York University, as well as a National Teaching Partner for the Colored Conventions Project. Her scholarly and public-facing work also extends into documentary production. Dr. Taylor served as Consulting Producer on The Inquisitor (2025), a feature-length documentary biography directed by Angela Lynn Tucker that examines the life, legacy, and political impact of Barbara Jordan, with particular attention to her intellectual rigor, moral clarity, and enduring influence on democratic discourse and civic leadership.

Dr. Taylor is the immediate past Book Review Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Speech and an active member of the National Communication Association and the Western StatesCommunication Association. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and a Life Member of the California State University, San Marcos Alumni Association.