Black Excellence Shines as Five Artists Receive MacArthur Fellowships

Black genius isn’t rare — it’s everywhere. 

Look no further than Wednesday’s announcement of the 2025 class of MacArthur Fellows for proof that Black folks are reshaping how we tell stories, protect the planet, build community, and make music.

This year, five Black artists, scientists, musicians, and activists are among the 22 recipients of what’s popularly known as the “genius grant,” an $800,000, no-strings-attached award from the nonprofit MacArthur Foundation. This year’s crop of Black geniuses is pushing the boundaries of creativity, innovation, and ideas that change our world for the better. 

Garrett Bradley
Artist and Filmmaker, New Orleans

The first Black woman to win Best Director in the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Documentary competition — for her documentary “Time,” which tells the stories of Black women in Louisiana who have incarcerated loved ones — Bradley is no stranger to accolades. Her work combines “elements of documentary, narrative, and experimental cinema to explore questions of justice, public memory, and cultural visibility,” according to MacArthur’s announcement. Her acclaimed installation, “America,” reimagines early Black cinema.

Kristina Douglass
Archaeologist, New York City

Archaeologists research the past, but Douglass digs into bygone eras to try to save our future. Her community-engaged archaeology efforts in Madagascar includes local residents in her research team. Together, they investigate how people have adapted to climate shifts — and what Indigenous and descendant communities can teach us about survival and resilience.

Tonika Lewis Johnson
Photographer and Social Justice Artist, Chicago

A lifelong Chicagoan, Lewis Johnson uses photography and public art to expose the roots and realities of racial segregation. Her Folded Map Project pairs residents from the Windy City’s predominantly white North Side with those from the predominantly Black South Side to confront how policies shape folks’ lives. Her projects, Inequity for Sale, and her latest, UnBlocked Englewood, document housing injustices and efforts to restore homes in need of repair.

Craig Taborn
Improvisational Musician and Composer
Brooklyn

Based in Brooklyn,  Taborn is known for his genre-bending approach to music. “I like to be surprised and excited by what’s happening,” he says in the video above. Through his mastery of piano and electronic keyboards, he delves into jazz, classical, electronic, rock, and hip hop. He “enhances musical collaborations and composition through his expansive exploration of sound, technique, and instrumentation,” according to MacArthur.

William Tarpeh
Chemical Engineer
Stanford, California

Most folks have no desire to think about sewage, but Tarpeh believes it’s full of potential. The Stanford University-based chemical engineer is developing technologies to recover and repurpose pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater. His pilot projects in Kenya and California could transform how communities deal with pollution, fertilizer shortages, and climate change. By reimagining waste as a solution, Tarpeh is creating a path to sustainability centered on environmental justice.

This story was originally published on Word In Black on October 8th, 2025