The First Documented Black Student at Cambridge University
In 1848 Alexander Crummell, the son of a slave in the United States, enrolled at Cambridge University to study moral philosophy.
Harvard University Receives the Vast Archives of Televangelist Carlton Pearson
Carlton Pearson, a former Pentecostal televangelist, has donated his personnel archives to the Andover-Harvard Theological Library. The archives include thousands of hours of raw and produced footage from Pearson's days as a televangelist.
British University to Offer the First Black Studies Degree Program in Europe
Birmingham City University enrolls about 22,500 students and its student body is considered to be one of the more diverse in England. Beginning in the fall of 2017, the university will offer a bachelor's degree program on people of African descent, their culture, their history, and their contributions to British society.
A New Ph.D. Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric
The new Ph.D. program at the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis will focus on the special role that preaching has in the African American community, viewing it as an art form, a force for social change, and an area overdue for academic study.
New Center at Washington University to Study How Racism Impacts Social Mobility
The Collaboration on Race, Inequality, and Social Mobility in America (CRISMA) will study ways in which inequality and structural racism affect racial/ethnic disparities in achievement, life chances, social and economic mobility, and health in the United States.
Poynter Institute to Launch the Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Journalism
The tuition-free program for minority journalists will include instruction on navigating newsroom culture, leadership, networking, mentoring, and the business of digital journalism. The National Association of Black Journalists will work with the institute to develop the curriculum.
Emory Acquires Rare First Edition of David Walker’s 1829 Book Appeal
The book was written and published in 1829 by Walker, a self-educated African American merchant. It is one of the earliest known written indictments of the institution of slavery. The first-edition acquired by Emory, one of only six known to exist, was owned and signed by W.E.B. Du Bois.
Toni Morisson Delivering the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University
The lecture series was endowed in 1925 with the honoree designated as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry for the duration of the six-lecture series. Toni Morrison, the Nobel laureate and professor emerita at Princeton University, is this year's honoree.
Georgetown University to Offer African American Studies Major
The new African American Studies major includes 10 courses and offers concentrations in language, literature, arts, and culture or in history, behavioral science, and social inquiry.
University of North Florida Launches New Institute of Race and Ethnic Relations
The new institute is one of only two centers focusing on issues of race in the Florida state university system and the only one that focuses on research. The institute will sponsor six research symposiums this year.
New Academic Consortium Will Oversee the Publication of the Journal African Arts
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Florida, and Rhodes University of South Africa each will be responsible for one issue of the quarterly journal each year.
University of Connecticut to Establish a Living / Learning Community for Black Men
The Scholastic House Of Leaders who are African American Researchers and Scholars will be located in a 200,000-square-foot dorm set to open in 2016. About 40 Black men will be able to participate in the living/learning community.
Ethnic Studies Courses in High School Can Lead to Academic Success for Minority Students
A new study by researchers at Stanford University found that minority students who took an ethnic studies course in high school had higher attendance rates and greater academic success than minority students who did not take such classes.
Bucknell University Debuts Africana Studies Major
The new major has nine requirements including core courses in Africana studies and classes in history, social sciences, humanities, and the arts. Seniors will be required to write a thesis under the mentorship of a faculty member.
New Multicultural Center Planned on the Campus of the University of Michigan
The University of Michigan has announced that it will build a new multicultural center in the heart of its campus. The new $10 million center will replace the William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center, which was located off campus in a former fraternity house.
University of California Sell Stocks of Three Prison Companies
The Afrikan Black Coalition, a student group representing Black students at all 10 University of California campuses, had demanded that the university divest itself of prison-related stocks.
Steven Nelson to Lead the African Studies Center at UCLA
Dr. Nelson is a professor of African and African American art and architectural history at the university. Professor Nelson is currently working on books about the Underground Railroad and the history of the city of Dakar.
New Director Seeks to Expand the Focus of Emory’s James Weldon Johnson Institute
Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory University, is seeking to expand the scope of the institute from one dealing mostly with the humanities to a large number of academic disciplines.
Nonprofit Starting Text-Message Counseling Service for College Students of Color
Stephen C. Rose, a graduate of Harvard University, committed suicide at the age of 29. Now his family and friends have established a nonprofit organization for programs to provide mental health services for college students of color. The latest effort is a new text-messaging counseling service, scheduled to debut this coming winter.
National Association of Ethnic Studies Moves to Virginia Commonwealth University
The association was founded in 1972 in Wisconsin. It's executive director is Ravi Perry, a new associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Two Black Scholars Named Co-Editors of New Book Series on Africana Religions
Edward Curtis is a professor of religious studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Sylvester A. Johnson is an associate professor of African American studies and religious studies at Northwestern University.
New Leadership for African American Studies at the University of Maryland
Oscar Barbarin holds the Wilson H. Elkins Professorship and is the new chair of the department of African American studies. Judge Alexander Williams Jr. was appointed director of the Center for Education, Justice, and Ethics.
Ohio University’s New Program to Boost Black Male Enrollments and Graduation Rates
The African American Male Initiative aims to connect its more than 40 students to academic support services on campus. It also is working in tandem with student organizations, student affairs, and the Athens community to establish a welcoming environment that young Black males can call home.
University Expands Its Entrepreneur Internship Program for Black Studies Students
The University of Missouri-Kansas City has announced that is expanding its internship program with the Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce. The initiative offers instruction and internships for students in the Black studies program at the university who are interested in entrepreneurship.
Princeton University Grants Departmental Status to African American Studies
Eddie Glaude Jr., the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies, will chair the new department. Students at Princeton will be able to major in African American studies beginning in the 2015-16 academic year.
Vanderbilt’s Black Studies Research Center Renamed to Honor Callie House
The African American and Diaspora Studies Program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, recently renamed its research arm the Callie House Research Center for the Study of Black Cultures and Politics.
The 21st-Century Version of Black Studies
Kevin Foster, an associate professor of African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin, has created the television production Blackademics TV.
Mississippi State Hosts “African American Treasures” From the Kinsey Collection
From March 21 to June 20, items from the private collection of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey will be on display at the Mitchell Memorial Library on the campus of Mississippi State University in Starkville.
Rice University’s Anthony Pinn to Teach New MOOC on Religion and Hip-Hop Culture
Anthony Pinn is the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and professor of religious studies at Rice University. Teaching duties will be shared with Grammy nominee Bernard "Bun B" Freeman.
John Bracey Named a Spotlight Scholar at the University of Massachusetts
The designation as a Spotlight Scholar at the University of Massachusetts is reserved for faculty members who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in research, scholarship or creative activity.
Diversity Course Requirement at UCLA Faces Another Hurdle
This past October, the members of the faculty of the College and Letters narrowly approved a requirement that all undergraduates take a course on diversity in order to graduate. Opponents have now scheduled a vote among all UCLA faculty, whose support is in doubt.
Mount Holyoke Professor to Debut New Film on African Filmmaker Ousmane Sembene
Samba Gadjigo, a professor of French at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, is the co-director of the new film Sembene. The film will be screened at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
New Black Studies Course Will Fulfill Core Requirement at the University of Arkansas
The African and African American studies program at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, is offering a new course, entitled "The African American Experience," that will fulfill the general core requirement in the humanities for undergraduate students.
The University of Virginia Hires Researcher to Examine the History of Slavery on Campus
The University of Virginia has appointed Kelley Fanto Deetz to a three-year postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research on the role of slavery in the university's history. And she will recommend how the university should commemorate those who worked in bondage for the university.
University of Kansas Project Will Examine the Impact of Black Poetry on Social Change
The project, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will fund an institute on the University of Kansas campus next summer entitled "Black Poetry After the Black Arts Movement."
Tufts University Debuts the Consortium of Studies in Race, Colonialism and Diaspora
The cross-disciplinary program will become the academic home for the programs in Africana studies, Asian American studies, Latino studies and other related programs in the School of Arts and Sciences.
