West was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and grew up in Sacramento, California, where his father was a general contractor for the Defense Department and his mother was a teacher and a principal. Irene B. West Elementary School, Elk Grove, California, is named for her. As a young man, West marched in civil rights demonstrations and organized protests demanding black studies courses at his high school, where he was class president. He later wrote that, in his youth, he admired "the sincere black militancy of Malcolm X, the defiant rage of the Black Panther Party [...] and the livid black theology of James Cone."In 1970, after graduating from John F. Kennedy Senior High School, he enrolled at Harvard University and took classes from philosophers Robert Nozick and Stanley Cavell. In 1973, he graduated magna cum laude in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization. "Owing to my family, church, and the black social movements of the 1960s", he says, "I arrived at Harvard unashamed of my African, Christian, and militant de-colonized outlooks. More pointedly, I acknowledged and accented the empowerment of my black styles, mannerisms, and viewpoints, my Christian values of service, love, humility, and struggle, and my anti-colonial sense of self-determination for oppressed people and nations around the world."

In 1980, he earned a Ph.D. from Princeton, where he was influenced by Richard Rorty's pragmatism. The title of his dissertation was Ethics, historicism and the Marxist tradition, which was later revised and published under the title The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought.

In his mid-20s, he returned to Harvard as a W. E. B. Du Bois Fellow before becoming an Assistant Professor at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. In 1985, he went to Yale Divinity School in what eventually became a joint appointment in American Studies. While at Yale, he participated in campus protests for a clerical labor union and divestment from apartheid South Africa. One of the protests resulted in his being arrested and jailed. As punishment, the University administration canceled his leave for Spring 1987, leading him to commute from Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, where he was teaching two classes, across the Atlantic Ocean to the University of Paris.

He then returned to Union and taught at Haverford College in Pennsylvania for one year before going to Princeton to become a Professor of Religion and Director of the Program in African-American Studies (1988-94), which he revitalized in cooperation with such scholars as novelist Toni Morrison.

He then accepted an appointment as Professor of African-American Studies at Harvard University, with a joint appointment at the Harvard Divinity School. West taught one of the University's most popular courses, an introductory class on African-American Studies. In 1998, he was appointed the first Alphonse Fletcher University Professor. West used this freedom to teach not only in African-American studies, but in Divinity, Religion, and Philosophy.

In 2001, after an argument with Harvard President Lawrence Summers, West returned to Princeton, where he has taught ever since.

The recipient of more than 20 honorary degrees and an American Book Award, he is a long-time member of the Democratic Socialists of America, for which he now serves as Honorary Chair. He is also a co-chair of the Tikkun Community and the Network of Spiritual Progressives. West is on the Board of Directors of the International Bridges to Justice, among others. West is also much sought-after as a speaker, blurb-writer, and Honorary Chair.

Critics, most notably The New Republic Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier, have charged him with opportunism, crass showmanship, and lack of scholarly seriousness.

West remains a widely cited scholar in the popular press in African-American Studies and Studies of Black Theology.

West is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans. He is a member of the fraternity's World Policy Council, a think tank whose purpose is to expand Alpha Phi Alpha's involvement in politics and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.

West is a practicing Christian.

In 2000, economist and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers became president of Harvard. In a private meeting with West, Summers allegedly rebuked West for missing too many classes, contributing to grade inflation, neglecting serious scholarship, and spending too much time on his economically profitable projects. Summers allegedly suggested that West produce an academic book befitting his professorial position. West had written several books, some of them widely cited, but his recent output consisted primarily of co-written and edited volumes. According to some reports, Summers also objected to West's production of a CD, the critically panned Sketches of My Culture, and to his political campaigning. According to West's book Democracy Matters, Summers wrongly accused him of canceling classes for three straight weeks during 2000 to promote Bill Bradley's presidential campaign. West contends that he had missed one class during his tenure at Harvard "in order to give a keynote address at a Harvard-sponsored conference on AIDS." Summers also allegedly suggested that since West held the rank of Harvard University Professor and thus reported directly to the President, he should meet with Summers regularly to discuss the progress of his academic production.

West contends that popular coverage of the controversy obscured the true issues at stake in his dispute with Summers. West argues that Summers's vision of academia is corrosive to a deep democratic commitment that strives to connect the academy with society at large, so as to fulfill its calling to educate the public. He contends that the controversy with Summers was indicative of the fact that "a market-driven technocratic culture has infiltrated university life, with the narrow pursuit of academic trophies and the business of generating income from grants and business partnerships taking precedence over the fundamental responsibility of nurturing young minds." According to West, during the controversy he was highly regarded in the academic community, "had more academic references than fourteen of the other seventeen Harvard University Professors", and "had nearly twice as many such references as Summers himself." At the time, West had been focused on reaching wider audiences as part of his effort to encourage civic engagement...especially amongst youth...in the hope of revitalizing what he calls a deep democratic commitment that would counteract the encroaching political nihilism that he argues threatens the future of American democracy. While West doesn't deny the importance of academics engaging the more specialized concerns of their fields, he strongly opposes the sentiment that academia must limit itself to those rarefied interests. Academia and academics, he contends, have an important role to play in promoting public discourse that cannot be achieved if professors lock themselves in their ivory towers instead of engaging society-at-large and the salient issues of the day. Ultimately, this was the root of the quarrel, according to West.

Summers refused to comment on the details of his conversation with West, except to express hope that West would remain at Harvard. Soon after, West was hospitalized for prostate cancer. West complained that Summers failed to send him get-well wishes until weeks after his surgery, whereas newly installed Princeton president Shirley Tilghman had contacted him frequently before and after his treatment. In 2002 West left Harvard University to return to Princeton. West lashed out at Summers in public interviews, calling him "the Ariel Sharon of higher education" on NPR's Tavis Smiley Show. In response to these remarks, five Princeton faculty members, led by professor of molecular biology Jacques Robert Fresco, said they looked with "strong disfavor upon his characterization" of Summers and that "such an analogy carries innuendoes and implications... that many on the Princeton faculty find highly inappropriate, indeed repugnant and intolerable."

West has called the U.S. a "racist patriarchal" nation where "white supremacy" continues to define everyday life. "White America," he writes, "has been historically weak-willed in ensuring racial justice and has continued to resist fully accepting the humanity of blacks." This has resulted, he claims, in the creation of many "degraded and oppressed people hungry for identity, meaning, and self-worth." Professor West attributes most of the black community's problems to "existential angst derive[d] from the lived experience of ontological wounds and emotional scars inflicted by white supremacist beliefs and images permeating U.S. society and culture."

In West's view, the September 11, 2001 attacks gave white Americans a glimpse of what it means to be a black person in the United States...feeling "unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence, and hatred" for who they are. "The ugly terrorist attacks on innocent civilians on 9/11," he said, "plunged the whole country into the blues."

West describes himself as a "non-Marxist socialist" (partly due to Marx's opposition to religion) and serves as honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, which he has described as "the first multiracial, socialist organization close enough to my politics that I could join". He also described himself as a "radical democrat, suspicious of all forms of authority" on the Matrix-themed documentary The Burly Man Chronicles (Found in The Ultimate Matrix Collection).

West has made plain his opposition to the war in Iraq. He asserts that Bush Administration hawks "are not simply conservative elites and right-wing ideologues", but rather are "evangelical nihilists ... drunk with power and driven by grand delusions of American domination of the world". He adds, "We are experiencing the sad gangsterization of America, an unbridled grasp at power, wealth, and status." Viewing capitalism as the root cause of these alleged American lusts, West warns, "Free-market fundamentalism trivializes the concern for public interest. It puts fear and insecurity in the hearts of anxiety-ridden workers. It also makes money-driven, poll-obsessed elected officials deferential to corporate goals of profit ... often at the cost of the common good."West has been involved with such projects as the Million Man March and Russell Simmons's Hip-Hop Summit, and worked with such public figures as Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton, whose 2004 presidential campaign West advised.

In 2000, West worked as a senior advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley. When Bradley lost in the primaries, West became a prominent endorser of Ralph Nader, even speaking at some Nader rallies. Some Greens sought to draft West to run as a presidential candidate in 2004. West declined, citing his active participation in the Al Sharpton campaign. West, along with other prominent Nader 2000 supporters, signed the "Vote to Stop Bush" statement urging progressive voters in swing states to vote for John Kerry, despite strong disagreements with many of Kerry's policies.

In April 2002 West and Rabbi Michael Lerner performed civil disobedience at the U.S. State Department "in solidarity with suffering Palestinian and Israeli brothers and sisters". West said, "We must keep in touch with the humanity of both sides." Thoughts on Anti-Semitism In May 2007 West joined a demonstration against "injustices faced by the Palestinian people resulting from the Israeli occupation" and "to bring attention to this 40 year travesty of justice".

Cornel West publicly supported 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. He spoke to over 1,000 of his supporters at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, N.Y.C. on November 29, 2007.

West also serves as co-chair of the Tikkun Community. He co-chaired the National Parenting Organization's Task Force on Parent Empowerment and participated in President Clinton's National Conversation on Race. He has publicly endorsed In These Times magazine by calling it: "The most creative and challenging news magazine of the American left". He is also a contributing editor for Sojourners Magazine.

West is noted for his support of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (P.E.T.A.) in its Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign, aimed at eliminating what P.E.T.A. describes as K.F.C.'s inhumane treatment of chickens. West is quoted on P.E.T.A. flyers: "Although most people don't know chickens as well as they know cats and dogs, chickens are interesting individuals with personalities and interests every bit as developed as the dogs and cats with whom many of us share our lives."

In 2008, West contributed his insights on the current global issue of modernized slavery and human trafficking in the rockumentary Call+Response.

West criticized President Obama when Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, saying that it would be difficult for Obama to be "a war president with a peace prize".

West appears in both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. He plays Councilor West, who serves on the council of Zion. West's character advises that "comprehension is not a requisite of cooperation." In addition, West provides philosophical commentary on all three Matrix films in The Ultimate Matrix Collection, along with integral theorist Ken Wilber.

West makes frequent appearances on the popular political show Real Time with Bill Maher.

West was featured on Starbucks Coffee Cups with The Way I See It #284 quoted, "You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people, if you don't serve the people."

In Anna Deavere Smith's work Los Angeles, she briefly delivers a speech in the style and words of West.

In the 2008 film Examined Life, a documentary featuring several noted academics discussing philosophy in real-world contexts, Cornel, "driving through Manhattan, . . . compares philosophy to jazz and blues, reminding us how intense and invigorating a life of the mind can be."

West appeared in the rock-umentary Call + Response, a video aiming to raise awareness about human trafficking.

Rapper Lupe Fiasco mentions West in his song 'Just Might Be OK' from his album Food & Liquor with the line 'I ain't Cornel West, I am Cornel Westside, Chi-town Guevara."

West has recorded a recitation of John Mellencamp's song "Jim Crow" for inclusion on the singer's upcoming box set On the Rural Route 7609.

West has recently completed recording with the Cornel West Theory, a Hip Hop band endorsed by West which also bears his name. He has also released two hip-hop/soul/spoken word albums, one under "Cornel West" (entitled Street Knowledge), the other under "Cornel West & B.M.W.M.B." (entitled Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations). Both works are musical expressions of West's personal politics and beliefs which he has annunciated in his previous written works.

He also was also seen having a conversation with Bill Withers in the Bill Withers documentary, "Still Bill".