As South Carolina voters headed to the primary polls and just three days before Super Tuesday, more than 100 black academics, writers, and educators issued a joint letter on Saturday endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders as they argued the election of the next president "will determine the future trajectory of this country and the world."

"We live in perilous but promising times. What we do or don't do in 2020 in the electoral arena, and beyond, will determine the future trajectory of this country and the world. We invite you to stand with us and support the Bernie Sanders campaign, as one step away from the precipice of fascism and toward a brighter more just future."

"A Sanders presidency would go a long way toward creating a safer and more just world," the endorsment letter states. "The commitment to free college education, the elimination of student debt which so many of our students suffer under, and the enfranchisement of incarcerated citizens, are only some of the reasons we have come to this conclusion."

The academics—including Princeton University's Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Temple University's Marc Lamont Hill, Harvard University's Elizabeth Hinton, and Darrick Hamilton of Ohio State University—also noted Sanders support of a commission to study reparations for slavery and heralded his "staunch commitment to the needs of poor and working people over the course of his career" as key reasons to back his candidacy.

"In this crucible year of 2020, when so much is at stake, not only for Black people but for all people, and all life on the planet," the letter states, "we feel it imperative that we step outside of our classrooms and go beyond our campuses, to speak out on the current presidential election."

"We invite you," it continued, "to stand with us and support the Bernie Sanders campaign, as one step away from the precipice of fascism and toward a brighter more just future."

The letter arrived as voters in South Carolina headed to the polls—a state with the largest population of black voters so far this primary season—and just three days before 14 states vote on Super Tuesday next week.

As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, the latest Reuters/Ipsos national poll showed Sanders leading the Democratic primary field among black voters, with 26% who said they support Sanders. That compared to 21% for Michael Bloomberg, 20% for Joe Biden, and 14% who said they were not sure.

Read the full letter and the list of signatories below:

We are Black scholars, writers and educators whose careers have been devoted to uncovering, analyzing, telling the stories, and uplifting the cultures of African Americans and peoples of the African Diaspora. We are also deeply invested in the freedom of our people and the subjects of our research. In this crucible year of 2020, when so much is at stake, not only for Black people but for all people, and all life on the planet, we feel it imperative that we step outside of our classrooms and go beyond our campuses, to speak out on the current presidential election.

After much research and reflection we have concluded that while imperfect, as we all are, Bernie Sanders, the politics he advocates, the consistent track record he demonstrates, and the powerful policy changes he has outlined, if elected, would make the most far-reaching and positive impact on the lives and condition of Black people, and all people in the United States. A Sanders presidency would go a long way toward creating a safer and more just world. The commitment to free college education, the elimination of student debt which so many of our students suffer under, and the enfranchisement of incarcerated citizens, are only some of the reasons we have come to this conclusion. His support of a commission to study reparations for slavery is another reason for our decision, as well as his staunch commitment to the needs of poor and working people over the course of his career.

At the same time we respect our friends and colleagues that have chosen the other progressive candidate in the race, Elizabeth Warren, and if she wins the primary, we will support her too. Still, we feel it is important to state flatly that we feel a Sanders campaign can win and a Sanders presidency would be a game changer for the people and communities of which we are a part.

While we are not all democratic socialists, we will not be red baited to reject and vilify Bernie Sanders' views. In fact there is a long and strong tradition of Black socialists in the United States and globally that have fought for racial and economic justice, from the great scholar and intellectual, W.E.B. DuBois to labor leader, A. Philip Randolph to legendary civil rights organizer, Ella Baker. So, we see Sanders’ commitment to challenging the ravages of racial capitalism as connected to an ongoing and ideologically diverse Black Freedom Movement.

We live in perilous but promising times. What we do or don't do in 2020 in the electoral arena, and beyond, will determine the future trajectory of this country and the world. We invite you to stand with us and support the Bernie Sanders campaign, as one step away from the precipice of fascism and toward a brighter more just future.

Note: Titles and institutional affiliations are listed for identification purposes only and in no way reflect any institutional endorsement whatsoever. Signers are acting in their capacity as private citizens.

Beatrice J. Adams, Doctoral candidate, History, Rutgers Unviersity

Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd, J.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Rutgers University

Laylah Ali, Professor of Art, Williams College

Abdul Alkalimat, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Sam Anderson, Center for the Advancement of Black Education

Herman L. Bennett, Professor of History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York

Carwil Bjork-James, Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Professor, Sociology, Duke University

Carole Boyce Davies, Professor of English and Africana Studies, Cornell University

Lisa Brock, Associate Professor of History, Kalamazoo College

Elsa Barkley Brown, Associate Professor of History and Women's Studies, University of Maryland College Park

Nicole A. Burrowes, Assistant Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies Department, University of Texas, Austin

Linda E. Carty, Associate Professor, African American Studies, Syracuse University

Rosa Clemente, Professor, Independent Journalist, Producer

Matthew Countryman, Associate Professor, Departments of History and American Culture University of Michigan

Dana-Ain Davis, Professor, City University of New York

Michael Dawson, John D. MacArthur Professor of Political Science and the College, University of Chicago

Frank Deale, Professor of Law, City University of New York Law School

Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt, Ph.D. Student, Michigan State University

James Counts Early, Former Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service Smithsonian Institution

Erica R. Edwards, Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

Ashley D. Farmer Ph.D., Assistant Professor, History & African & African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas-Austin

Crystal N. Feimster, Professor, Yale University, African American Studies Department American Studies Program, History Department, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program

Jonathan Fenderson, Assistant Professor of African & African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis and Associate Editor, The Black Scholar

Johanna Fernández, PhD, Department of History, Baruch College, City University of New York

Bill Fletcher Jr., Independent Scholar and Author, Executive Editor, Global African Worker

Tyrone Forman, Professor, African American Studies and Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago

Paul Foster, MPA, Emerita Clinical Co-ordinator, Harlem Physician Assistant Program, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, CCNY

Olubukola Gbadegesin, Associate Professor, African American Studies and Art History, Saint Louis University

Adom Getachew, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Political Science and the College, University of Chicago

Keedra Gibba, Teacher of History and Social Studies, Francis W. Parker School, Chicago

Dayo Gore, Professor, Ethnic Studies and Critical Gender Studies, University of California, San Diego

Cecilia A. Green, Associate Professor of Sociology, Syracuse University

Josh Guild, Associate Professor of History and African American Studies, Princeton University

Sarah Haley, Associate Professor, University of California, Los Angeles

Darrick Hamilton, Professor and Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University

Michael G. Hanchard, Gustave C. Kuemmerle Professor and Chair of the Department of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Diane Harriford, Professor, Department of Sociology, Vassar College

Cheryl I. Harris, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles

Faye V. Harrison, Professor of African American Studies and Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Renee Camille Hatcher, Assistant Professor of Law, John Marshall, University of Illinois at Chicago

Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Professor and Thomas E. Lifka Chair in History, University of California, Los Angeles

Marc Lamont Hill, Professor and the Steve Charles Chair in Media, Cities and Solutions, College of Media and Education, Temple University

Elizabeth Hinton, Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Harvard University

Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies, University of Houston

Zenzele Isoke, Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, University of Minnesota

Lynette A. Jackson, Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies and Black Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

Joy James, Ebenzer Fitch Professor of the Humanities, Williams College

Destin Jenkins, Assistant Professor of History, University of Chicago

Ryan Cecil Jobson, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor, Anthropology, University of Chicago

Cheryl Johnson-Odim, Ph.D., Provost Emerita and Professor of History, Dominican University, Illinois

Tracey Johnson, Ph.D. candidate, Rutgers University

Robin D.G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, University of California, Los Angeles

Ainsley LeSure, Assistant Professor of Politics, Black Studies Advisory Council, Occidental College

La TaSha Levy, Assistant Professor of American Ethnic Studies, University of Washington-Seattle

R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy, Associate Professor, New York University

Toussaint Losier, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts – Amherst

Sheldon Bernard Lyke, Assistant Professor at Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law

Minkah Makalani, Director of the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, University of Texas at Austin

Austin McCoy, Assistant Professor of History, Auburn University

Deborah E. McDowell, Alice Griffin Professor of English, Director, Carter G. Woodson Institute, University of Virginia

Erik S. McDuffie, Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Mireille Miller-Young, Associate Professor, Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Quincy T. Mills, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park

Leith Mullings, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emerita, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Donna Murch, Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University

Linda Rae Murray, M.D., MPH, Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago

Premilla Nadasen, Professor of History, Barnard College, and President of the National Women’s Studies Association (2018 -2020)

Celia E. Naylor, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, Barnard College, Columbia University

Rosemary Ndubuizu, Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Scholar, Washington, D.C.

Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African American Studies, Duke University

Prexy Rozell Nesbitt, Presidential Fellow, Chapman University

Margo Okazawa-Rey, Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair, Mills College & Professor Emerita, San Francisco State University

James Padilioni, Jr, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion, Swarthmore College

Melina Pappademos, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, University of Connecticut

Kaneesha Cherelle Parsard, Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow, English, University of Chicago

Tianna S. Paschel, Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley

Earl Picard, Independent Scholar, Atlanta, Georgia

Steven C. Pitts, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education

Sherie M. Randolph, Associate Professor of History, Georgia Institute of Technology

Barbara Ransby, Distinguished Professor, African American Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies and History, University of Illinois at Chicago

Ismail Rashid, Professor of History, Vassar College

Aisha Ray, Professor Emerita, Erikson Institute

Shana L. Redmond, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles

Russell Rickford, Associate Professor of History, Cornell University

J. T. Roan, Assistant Professor of African American Studies, School of Transformation, Arizona State University

Francesca T. Royster, Professor, DePaul University

Tanya L. Saunders, Associate Professor, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida

Kesho Yvonne Scott, Professor Emerita, Grinnell College

Barbara Smith, Independent Scholar, Albany, New York

Lester Spence, Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Robyn C. Spencer, Associate Professor, Lehman College, City University of New York

David Stovall, Professor, Black Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

Stacey Sutton, Assistant Professor, Urban Planning & Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Assistant Professor, Department of African American Studies, Princeton University

Ula Y. Taylor, Professor of African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Alia R. Tyner-Mullings, Associate Professor, Sociology, Guttman Community College, City University of New York

Melissa M. Valle, Assistant Professor, Sociology and African American Studies, Rutgers University-Newark

Stephen Ward, Department of Afroamerican & African Studies (DAAS), Residential College, University of Michigan

Jakobi Williams, Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor, Indiana University

Naomi R. Williams, PhD, Assistant Professor, Rutgers University

Hazel Carby, Charles C & Dorathea S Dilley Professor of African American Studies & American Studies at Yale University.

George Yancy, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy, Emory University

Jasmine K. Syedullah, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Vassar College