Erik S. McDuffie serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Holding a Ph.D. in history from New York University, with a concentration in the African diaspora and U.S. history since 1865, McDuffie has built a career focusing on areas including the African diaspora, the Midwest, black feminism, black queer theory, black radicalism, urban history, and black masculinity. His academic pursuits extend beyond teaching, as evidenced by his affiliation with various campus programs and centers, such as the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, African American Studies, History, Program in Jewish Culture and Society, Center for African Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies.

McDuffie's book, "Sojourning for Freedom: Black Women, American Communism, and the Making of Black Left Feminism" was recognized with the 2012 Wesley-Logan Prize from the American Historical Association and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, as well as the 2011 Letitia Woods Brown Award from the Association of Black Women Historians. Currently, he is working on another book titled "Garveyism in the Diasporic Midwest: The American Heartland and Global Black Freedom, 1920-80". This work has already garnered recognition and won him an American Council for Learned Societies fellowship in 2017.

Along with his writing and teaching, McDuffie has received the Helen Corley Petit Award and the Outstanding Teaching Award in African American Studies during his tenure at the University of Illinois and University of Delaware. He is a member of several scholarly associations, including the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD), American Historical Association (AHA), Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH), American Studies Association (ASA), and Organization of American Historians (OAH).

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