Dr. Karen Flynn has received two awards for her article, "Hotel Refuses Negro Nurse": Gloria Clark Baylis and the Queen Elizabeth Hotel
The Department of African American Studies enthusiastically welcomes Dr. Smith and Dr. Ngumbi to the faculty as Assistant Professors. Dr. Smith's work focuses on food justice in the United States, local food systems, race & class in food politics, and activism. More specifically, his current research seeks to understand the ways in which Black communities use food justice activism...
The Department of African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (DAAS) condemns the placement of a noose in an elevator in Allen Hall over Labor Day weekend. Students, faculty, staff, and the community are rightly outraged and incensed by this heinous act. The noose represents a painful symbol of lynching—one of the most violent forms of white supremacist terror and...
About 20 Illinois students interned with The Community Builders last summer as part of an ongoing effort by the Department of African American Studies to encourage students to participate in community engagement projects.
Toni Morrison was an award-winning author, professor, and speaker. Morrison earned her Bachelor's Degree from Howard University and her Master's Degree from Cornell University. Toni Morrison did not publish her first novel until she was thirty-nine years old, but the following almost-fifty years were marked by stunning success, international notoriety, and a position in...
A series of informal lectures and discussions on the innovative work going on at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the interconnectedness of AFRO with many academic disciplines and fields.
AFRO meet a wealth of new and known faces alike at Illini Fest. We were very pleased to see such interest in our department. The AFRO Department spent Thursday, July 18 at Millennium Park for the first-ever Illini Fest in Chicago, organized by the University of Illinois' new Chief Marketing Officer, Eric Minor. The event was planned with the purpose of acknowledging the large population of Illini...
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Poet Claudia Rankine, whose writing addresses issues of racism and racial violence, will visit campus this week to read from her work. The reading is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 601 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana, and is free and open to the public. The event is hosted...
An exhibit at the University of Illinois Archives documents his official role on campus and his work on behalf of African-American students, as well as his involvement in the community and his family. The exhibit coincides with the 70th anniversary of Lee’s death, as well as the 50th anniversary of Project 500, which sought to increase the number of African-American students on...
Starting in the 2018-2019 academic year, Meyers will be an assistant professor in the Department of African American Studies. His current book manuscript project, Play it Again: The Enduring Past in Popular Music examines topics such as the sampling of soul and funk recordings from the 1970s in hip-hop, the live performance of "standards" among jazz musicians, and the...
The Department of African American Studies will be sponsoring a "Freedom Forum" discussion on the topic of "Toward Black Liberation in the Era of Trump."
Dr. Ruby Mendenhall and Dr. Malaika McKee were recently interviewed by Scientific Computing to discuss their exciting research project
Professor Eric McDuffie recently spoke with LAS News to discuss his research on Garveyism, the family of Malcolm X, and the importance of black women in the struggle for civil rights.
Just say the name “Selma,” and anyone who knows the history of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s will know what you mean. It was on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in that Alabama city almost 50 years ago (March 7, 1965) that peaceful marchers were beaten back with billy clubs wielded by state and local lawmen.
Faye V. Harrison was the 2022 recipient of the Society for Applied Anthropology’s Malinowski Award and delivered the Malinowski Address (which will be published in Human Organization) at the Awards Ceremony on Friday, March 25 in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to the award’s description: The Bronislaw Malinowski Award is presented to an outstanding social scientist...