Why African American & African Studies?

Five student leaders from the 1969 Morrill Hall Takeover triumphantly leading a large group of students wearing winter clothing

Who We Are

We provide our members, visitors, and the wider community the platform to explore, appreciate, and engage with the diversity of histories, realities, and experiences of African, African American, and the African diasporic lives.

Our faculty is comprised of award-winning teachers and engaged scholars tied to grassroots initiatives that critically and boldly reach across global and US histories, cultures, social structures, and economic systems. Our students respond to intellectual challenges and make acute advances.

Many of our graduates have not only been accepted to professional and graduate schools, but also found career paths in education, business, medicine, law, the arts, journalism, local, global, and transnational advocacy work, and foreign affairs.

What We Do

Through teaching, research, and public engagement, we expose our students to the pressing challenges of today’s world, as well as possibilities for social change. We are committed to the work of sparking students’ interest and curiosity, as well as guiding them to become imaginative thinkers, activist-scholars, confident writers, and dynamic citizens of a world community.

We are a critical pacesetter that seeks to bridge the wedge between the classroom and the community.

Our courses offer tools of critical inquiry drawn from the humanities and the social sciences to highlight the commonalities and diverse experiences that characterize African, African American, and African diasporic peoples. We also offer two African languages, Swahili and Somali, which are considered less-commonly taught languages in the United States.