#  Cheryl Townsend Gilkes 

Spring 2026

Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow

 

 

 



   ![Cheryl Townsend Gilkes](/sites/g/files/omnuum10831/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-07/CTGSPA064206_0.jpg?itok=v-gonxne) 

 



 





 

**Cheryl Townsend Gilkes** is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and African American Studies Emerita at Colby College.



 

 

 



##  Fellowship Project 

In residence as a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow for the Spring 2026 term, Gilkes will be writing the book *Mighty Causes Are Calling: A Personal Engagement with the Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois*, which is the author’s personal story of W. E. B. Du Bois and his work.