2025-09-29
- The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Department of African American Studies welcomed its major and minor students at the annual fall welcome event for the 2025 academic year! Each year the event affords the opportunity for students to not only connect with faculty and gain more insight about the department...
2025-09-17 - Professor Helen Neville of Educational Psychology and African American studies has been selected to participate in the 2025-2026 Department Executive Officers Seminar. She will also be serving as the new chair for the Department of Educational Psychology.Find more details about the...
2025-09-17 - Congratulations to Professor Alexia Williams of the Department of Religion and African American Studies on being afforded the opportunity of being awarded a Louisville Institute First Book Grant for her forthcoming book project, Race to Sainthood: Black Catholicism and the American Racial Imagination!...
2025-08-18 - The Department of African American Studies is pleased to announce that we have another Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dr. Kevin Rigby Jr, joining the team for the new 2025-2026 academic year! We wanted to learn a bit about Dr. Rigby to gain some insight on what drew him to the U of I Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Associate program. Here's what he had to say:1. What drew...
2025-08-01 - Professor Bobby J. Smith II was featured on the Peoria (25News Now) newscast on July 30, 2025. The topic of food insecurity is an ongoing issue, relevant to much of society—but exceptionally pervasive in disenfranchised communities. Peoria (25News Now) sheds light on the decrease of food access in Peoria, IL."On July 23, another grocery chain shut its doors in Peoria, leaving...
2025-08-01 - Two of the Department of African American Studies' very own, Professors Mary Phillips and Bobby J Smith II, have been selected as part of the cohort for The OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship 2025-26! The program is in its seventh year. "The fellowship is a unique opportunity led by ...
2025-07-09 - AFRO is very pleased to share that Professor Leonard McKinnis of the department of African American Studies and the department of Religion has been named General Editor of the Religion, Race, and Ethnicity Series with NYU Press. He is the second editor of this Series, following Peter Paris who was General Editor for two decades. Dr. McKinnis expressed his excitement and honor to succeed Dr....
2025-06-18 - In recognition of Father's Day, professor Esther Ngumbi was featured in another NPR, Goats and Soda, opinion piece. In the article, she discusses the importance of her father, Harrison Ngumbi's defiance of a Kenyan cultural belief systems about educating daughters and its importance. "Thank you, Dad, for standing up for your girls.In rural Kenya, where we grew up...
2025-06-05 - Accolades go to Dr. Erik S. McDuffie, associate professor for both the Department of African American Studies and History, who has been recognized for several faculty honors: received 2025 Campus Distinguished Promotion Award; named Dean's Distinguished Professorial Scholar for the 2025-2026 academic year; lastly, received the Jon Gjerde Prize from the Midwestern History Association for the best...- 2025-05-21 - Prof. Bobby J. Smith II had the pleasure of hosting the annual senior thesis research symposium. This year's research topic focused on "(Re) Evaluating the Black Experience", where 8 students presented their final work: Zoe Howard, Tommy Pettie, Vans Smallwood, Faith Lee, Nyx Melancon, Ma'at Husband-Ausar, Zoë Newman-Payne, and With themes ranging from: "Analysis of...
2025-05-12 - Prof. Sundiata Cha-Jua was featured in an Illinois Public News article where he was interviewed about police misconduct in Champaign County. "CHAMPAIGN — In 2009, the fatal shooting of a teenager by a Champaign Police officer sparked calls for change in the years that followed. One of those calls was for a civilian review board to provide broad oversight over the Champaign...
2025-05-11 - Professor Esther Ndumi Ngumbi featured in NPR (opinion; Washington, D.C.) on the role her mother played in life and career."I want you to study hard so that you can rescue our family from poverty. Your father and I are poor and the only gift we can give you is an education. You are intelligent. Rise up and make your lives meaningful. I gave birth to you and I know you have what it takes to make...- 2025-05-02 - The Department of African American Studies (AFRO) hosted its annual Awards Ceremony on May 2nd, 2025, to recognize the accomplishments of faculty and 1 graduate student from the 2024-2025 academic year. Each year, the ceremony aims to fulfill AFRO's mission statement, "celebrating academic excellence, and social responsibility!" It was an afternoon meant for campus faculty, staff, and...
2025-04-02 - On 3/28 and 3/29 Dr. Eddie O'Byrn had the incredible opportunity to be a part of a critical theory symposium on the philosophy, theory, and praxis of Angela Davis. The symposium was held at Penn State, only five speakers were invited, Davis herself gave the introductory keynote, she was present on Saturday for each speaker, responded to each speaker at the end, and attended a dinner with the...
2025-03-05 - Arts and Humanities editor, Jodi Heckel, of the IL News Bureau interviewed Dr. Mary Phillips about her new book, "Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins." An excerpt from the story (originally published on 3/4/25): "CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Political activist and educator Ericka Huggins used spiritual wellness practices to cope with imprisonment...