Career
Bain was also a renowned professor of Black Studies for the City University of New York for several decades (at Hunter College, John Jay College and New York Institute of Technology). The Myrna Bain Scholarship at John Jay College is dedicated to her memory. Bain was an active writer who associated with other luminaries such as Amiri Baraka, Quincy Troupe, Audre Lorde and most notably, James Baldwin.
Bain was a lifelong participant in the political process both as a writer and direct participant.
Starting out in the 1960s, Bain was active in the black power movement at points being connected to the Black Panther Party and the Freedom Summer movement. The most mainstream political period for Bain involved a stint as a public relations operative for the Republican Party (Publicity Director for the Minorities Division of the Republican National Committee).
Bain always maintained that she did this period of work to “know how the other side worked”. Upon having her fill of the bureaucratic process Bain would leave and carry on her political ideas within academia.