Frank Leon Roberts is a writer, activist-scholar, and political organizer based in New York City. Educated at NYU and Yale University, he is currently on the lecturer-faculty of New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study where his 2015 course “Black Lives Matter: Race, Resistance, and Popular Protest” is one of the first of its kind in the nation. He has previously held teaching positions at The City University of New York (at both Hunter College and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice), The New School for Public Engagement, and The W.E.B. DuBois Scholars Institute at Princeton University.

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A veteran community organizer and political activist, he is the co-founder (with Keith Boykin) of the National Black Justice Coalition—the largest civil rights organization in the country dedicated to combating homophobia, sexism, and misogyny in communities of color.Prior to graduate school Frank served as the assistant to legendary civil rights attorney Johnnie Cochran whom he worked with on the legal movement for racial reparations. A frequent commentator on issues related to race and politics in America, he has written for Vibe Magazine, The Huffington Post, Uptown Magazine, The Village Voice, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among many others.

Frank's organizing work has taken him around the globe from Ferguson and France, and beyond. His recent civil disobedience arrest in New York City (where he and local organizers shut down New York’s West Side Highway in response to the Eric Garner verdict) was profiled by CNN and a multitude of other media venues. A New York City native, Frank received his B.A. in English and African American Studies from New York University, where he was a three time recipient of the NYU President’s Service Award (the university’s highest distinction for civic engagement and public service).

In recognition of his long history of service, he is the recent recipient of NYU’s distinguished MLK Trailbazer Award (named in honor of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.) as well the 2015 NYU Distinguished Alumni Award.

Frank is an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated.