In the 1976-77 school year, Black won a fellowship called the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienststipendium, and in 1979, he won a Fellowship at the School of Criticism and Theory at the University of California at Irvine).
In 1978-79, Black was an assistant professor of comparative literature at Hamilton College in New York state.
From 1979 to 1982, Black was an assistant professor of comparative literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In 1986 and 1989, Black was a UGA Exchange Professor at Universitaire, Instelling Antwerpen, Antwerp, in Belgium.
In 2003, Black was promoted to professor of comparative literature at the University of Georgia.