African American Studies

Origins

The roots of the discipline now known as African American Studies lie in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The period provided the historical moment when a call for a change in societal and academic structures needed to be made. Seizing the moment, various organizations, such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Black student unions on predominantly White campuses, made a popular demand for academic relevance and positive social change. Four phases characterize the history of the movement.

The first occurred in 1960 when the Civil Rights Movement demanded the abolition of racial segregation in public places, equality and justice for Blacks, and the organization of Blacks into an independent and powerful social force. The move to achieve these objectives was spearheaded by the SNCC and included organizations such as the Southern Leadership Conference Committee (SLC), the Committee on Racial Equality (CORE), the National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panthers.

The second phase emerged in 1964 at the University of California, Berkeley, where students—mostly White—had formed the Free Speech Movement to protest against the administration's policies on campus. Eventually, the movement merged its interests with those of the larger national Civil Rights Movement. Together, proponents called for the empowerment of students and Blacks.

A year later, the third phase emerged when student opposition to the Vietnam War, and the involvement of some universities in it, led to the formation of the antiwar movement. Members questioned the universities' structure and governance pattern and suggested ways in which the institutions could relate to Black students, the Black community, and other Third World peoples. By doing so, the student movement succeeded in forging a link between demands for changes in the universities and for those in the society at large.

The final phase occurred in 1966 at the peak of the Black Power Movement. Empowered by the movement's vision, the Negro Students' Association at San Francisco State College changed its name to the Black Students' Union (BSU). Members demanded the establishment of an autonomous Department of Black Studies where the mission would consist of academic excellence and social responsibility. Their demands, buttressed in a five-month strike, inspired student and faculty activism at many other universities across the nation. Several protests and sit-ins were organized by Black students, faculty, and allies who demanded that the traditional academic structures be changed to enable the institution to address the culture, needs, and aspirations of Blacks and other minorities.

...