Brandon Archer

Brandon Archer (He/Him/His) is a senior at Swarthmore College, with a special major in “Visual Cultures and Literature of the African Diaspora”. A Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, his research asks what is at stake for contemporary artists representing the Black body in what Elizabeth Alexander describes as the 'Trayvon Generation.' He explores refashioned images of embodiment that problematize liberal humanism and historical responses to anti-Black bodily violence. He continues to expand on these questions as a member of the 2024-2025 Black Embodiments Studio arts writing cohort. Centering socially engaged scholarship, he has assisted research and a comprehensive report on the regression of student activist’s rights and civic space for the Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund. 

Guided by a practice of empathetic racial justice organizing, he helped start and served as chairman for the Philly Black Student’s Alliance, included in the anthology How We Stay Free: Notes on a Black Uprising. He joined Philadelphia Education Policy and Programs nonprofit UrbEd, Inc. in 2020. Formerly serving as Communications Director, Board Member, and Executive Director from 2021-2024 for the organization and Bullhorn Newspaper— the city’s only youth-led newspaper. Fundraising an annual budget of over $150k, he has maintained and expanded relationships with key stakeholders throughout the city, including the William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia Foundation, Stoneleigh Foundation, and various Philadelphia organizers, politicians, and cultural groups. While in the role he successfully helped launch a collaborative youth space in Center City, campaigns addressing gun violence and youth participation on the Board of Education, and represented the organization  in a lawsuit with the PA ACLU against the Board of education. On campus, Brandon is currently a Writing Associate, President of the Afro-American Student Society, Student Ambassador for the Swarthmore Black Alumni Network, Black Cultural Center Intern, and previously President of the Swarthmore McCabe Society.

Currently… Reading James Baldwin or thinking about the afro-future.