During her time in Queens College, she took an Introduction to Anthropology course taught by Hortense Powdermaker, influencing her decision to eventually continue in the field.
In 1983, Mullings left Colombia and began working full time at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center as a distinguished professor of anthropology.
Using a feminist and critical race theory lens, Mullings analyzed various topics including: health disparities, kinship, gentrification, social movements, and representation.
Her dissertation work turned into her first book, Therapy, Ideology and Social Change: Mental Health and Healing in Urban Ghana.
[16][18] Some of her more recent work included completing a manuscript on the ethnohistory of the New York City African Burial Ground with the goal of recognizing, preserving, and memorializing the site along with other Black scholars across the country.
[19] "Sojourner Syndrome" describes the behavioral coping strategies Black women employ to manage the psychosocial environmental stressors they encounter.
[20] Mullings received many awards throughout her lifetime including the Prize for Distinguished Achievement in the Critical Studies of North America in 1997.