Black Lines Journal is an opportunity for the Pitt community to contribute to research and art focusing on the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) experience, under a unified moniker. It is a revival of a previously established research journal.

Black Lines Journal will offer a space for budding creatives and literary scholars from underrepresented backgrounds to present their work and receive guidance.

Our History:

Black Lines was originally an academic journal organized by faculty in the Black Studies Department of the University of Pittsburgh. The first three editors—Larry Coleman, Clarence Rollo Turner, and Curtiss Porter—published the first issue in September of 1970. The journal continued through 1972, serving as an interdisciplinary journal for scholars to publish research across disciplines with a common goal of communicating new ideas and prompting important conversations.

Black Lines Journal seeks to pay homage to the journal from decades past by carrying a similar name and aesthetic vision, while also advancing an intersectional conception of Black Studies in our published research and creative work. We seek to be a place for historically marginalized voices to come together and express a wealth of experiences and research.

Editors will work closely with contributors to make their writing as sound as possible, and will be granted the opportunity to continually improve their own writing through mentorship and guidance from Pitt faculty. The journal will be accessible for research and recreational reading through online publication and physical copies.