Mickens is African-American and has had an interest in the history of science, and specifically the history of black scientists, throughout his academic career. He has served as the historian of the National Society of Black Physicists and has published histories of black physicists – most notably Edward Bouchet, widely recognized as the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in the United States – as well as biographies of black women in science. Mickens was also a co-founder of the National Conference of Black Physics Students and he was a member of the founding council of the Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute, an organization founded in 1988 by Nobel laureate in physics Abdus Salam to encourage collaboration between African and American physicists, where he continues to serve as a council member. Mickens' work earned him recognition by Mathematically Gifted & Black as a Black History Month 2017 Honoree.