National Council for Black Studies

The National Council For Black Studies, Inc. (NCBS) was founded in 1975 by a group of academics, under the leadership of Bertha Maxwell (later Bertha Maxwell Roddey), that pioneered some of the earliest Black Studies programs on university campuses in the United States. The purpose of the organization is to promote and strengthen academic and community programs in the area of Black Studies.

Bertha Maxwell Roddey, often referred to as the “Mother of the Black Studies Movement,” was the person responsible for convening the group in 1975 in Charlotte, North Carolina, from March 18 to March 21. This group had as its goal to review and analyze the structure and goals of Black Studies programs across the nation. A follow-up meeting was held in July of that year at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey. It was at this meeting, convened by ETS's William Harris, that the organization was created, with Maxwell elected temporary chairperson.

From its inception, the organization viewed itself as representing the academic discipline responsible for describing and analyzing the world from a black perspective. However, the term black perspective could not be sustained, as the organization's members came from various disciplines and professions and held numerous perspectives. Over the years, the organization matured, along with the discipline, placing the highest value on curriculums and scholarship rooted in the history, culture, social realities, and worldview of Africa. In 1985 the organization sharpened its statement [Page 360]of purpose, specifying that the National Council For Black Studies is a professional organization that defines, promotes, and enriches Black Studies as a vehicle to further the development of people of African descent. The books Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change(1980) and The Afrocentric Idea (1987) by Molefi Kete Asante and Kawaida Theory (1980) by Maulana Karenga contributed immeasurably to this evolution.

In addition to its revised statement of purpose, the organization needed a concise slogan or motto that would communicate its raison d'etr quickly and easily. The NCBS found such a motto in a phrase coined for a very successful NCBS conference, which was organized in 1983 by Abdul Alkalimat (then known as Gerald McWhorter) for the Illinois Council of Black Studies. The phrase “Academic Excellence and Social Responsibility” became and continues to be the motto of the organization because it so clearly reflects its commitment to scholarship for the betterment of its community.