James Millette, Professor Emeritus of African American Studies, Dies at 92

James Millette, a longtime professor of African American studies at Oberlin and a key supporter of Black initiatives on campus, died October 12 after a brief illness. He was 92.

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Millette joined the Oberlin faculty in 1991. Initially a visiting professor with a résumé spanning more than two dozen years of university teaching in the Caribbean, he soon became a fixture in the African American Studies (now Africana Studies) Department and a beloved mentor to faculty and students alike.

“Professor Millette was a brilliant scholar of Caribbean history committed to the Africana Studies Department, Afrikan Heritage House, and to the Oberlin College mission,” says Professor of Africana Studies and Comparative American Studies Meredith Gadsby. 

Millette earned a bachelor’s degree in history at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Campus, in Jamaica. On Christmas Day 1957, he met his future wife, Mildred Veronica Hardie; whom he married in 1960. Soon after, Millette pursued an MA and PhD in history at King’s College London. Upon completing his studies, he returned to Trinidad, where he worked at the University of the West Indies’ St. Augustine campus for 26 years, teaching history and serving as dean of the College of Arts and General Studies.

As a young educator, Millette grew increasingly immersed in Caribbean politics and activism, becoming a vocal member of the New World Group, a political network—fueled by academic figures and intellectuals like Millette—that championed Black power and postcolonial independence for Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean nations. He was a member of the editorial board of the New World Journal and served as general secretary of Trinidad’s United Labour Front Party.

In the early 1970s, Millette founded the socialist-leaning United National Independence Party and the influential weekly newspaper MOKO, which espoused the party’s agenda.

During that time, while many opposition leaders were arrested during the leadership of Trinidad’s conservative Prime Minister Eric Williams, the outspoken Millette emerged unscathed. “I think the government never arrested me because they thought I would gain even more power in prison,” he later told the Chronicle-Telegram. “So they left me alone.”

At Oberlin, Millette was a leader of the Association of Black Concerns, a group of Black staff and faculty that advocated for fair and equitable treatment. He played an integral role in the college’s strategic planning initiatives, with his focus locked on advocacy for Black students.

“As a labor historian, he recognized the importance of collective struggle to the past, present, and future success of Black people internationally,” says Gadsby.

Millette’s 19-year tenure at Oberlin included four years—from 1999 to 2003—as chair of the African American Studies Department. He taught courses on Caribbean, African, African American, and imperial history, as well as the core course Introduction to Black Studies, and he was part of the team that created the Comparative American Studies Program and the Oberlin College Dialogue Center.