Runoko Rashidi (16 August 1954 – 2 August 2021) was a historian, essayist, author and public lecturer based in Los Angeles, California, and Paris, France. He is the author of Introduction to the Study of African Classical Civilizations] (1993) and the editor of Unchained African Voices, a collection of poetry and prose by Death Row inmates at California's San Quentin maximum-security prison. He was a member of the editorial board of Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies (www.jpanafrican.org), and he held an honorary doctorate of divinity from Amen-Ra Theological Seminary (Los Angeles, California). He also supported the work of controversial scholars like the late Ivan Van Sertima.