Contact Information
Lindley Hall 300
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
Tel: 740-593-4546
Fax: 740-593-0671
E-mail: African American Studies

History of The Department of African American Studies
Realizing the need to create a relevant education for themselves, in 1969, a seven-member Black steering committee composed of three faculty members—Floyd Gaffney (Theatre), Ronald Williams (Hearing and Speech), and James Barnes (Government), one administrator (Jesse Arnelle), and three students (McKinley Broadus, Rodney Sampson, and James Steele)—met with university administrators to discuss a proposal to establish an Institute.

The steering committee resulted from ongoing talks between Black students and University administrators. Although the proposed institute would be open to all students, the proposal specifically called for a department that would have “direction by Black people, for Black people.” It also called for the institute to have “the degree of autonomy that will enable its faculty, students, and administrators to develop innovative programs.” Such autonomy, the proposal argued, would discourage interference from “traditional institutional procedures and individuals who may be personally opposed to the program” (The Post, April 25, 1969).

Further demands of the committee called for Black administrators, curricula, housing, open admissions, a Black scholarship-recruitment program, a Black resource center, and activities fees paid by Black students to go into a Black students’ growth fund. These demands were designed to not only meet the needs of Black students at Ohio University, but indeed for the entire University community. The institute would be of service to both the University and larger community by providing instruction in Black history, culture, politics, as well as bringing to the fore many of the challenges unique to the Black experience. In effect, the institute would serve as a training ground for future leaders who could aid their communities in developing the requisite skills and resources needed to create and foster meaningful lives for those who may have been left behind (The Post, April 29, 1969).

Consequently, in response to nearly 250 Black students who gathered in “solidarity” around the front entrance of Cutler Hall on April 25, 1969, the University administration made a written commitment for a Black Studies Institute that would be located at Ohio University. The Center for Afro-American Studies, which eventually became the Department of African American Studies, began as a college on the same day as the solidarity meeting, April 25, 1969. Originally, the center consisted of two components, the Afro-American Studies Institute and the Resources and Supportive Services under the auspices of the Dean of the Center. The center was responsible for the academic and degree program, while the resources and supportive services unit was responsible for academic and personal counseling and support programs for majors and minors.

The center had been designated as an important part of a growing effort to correct the trend in higher education that ignored the black experience. Eventually recognized as one of the oldest Centers in the United States, the center was placed under the auspices of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1980. Transitioning to departmental status in 1984, the Department’s primary goal was to offer a four-year degree program of study for its majors and minors.

For four decades, the Department of African American Studies has enriched the educational experiences of Ohio University students. Many of its majors and minors have gone on to graduate school and/or carved out influential careers in a variety of professions including but not limited to law, the performing arts, international affairs, religion, politics, education, and business. The Department has also made valuable contributions to the field of African American Studies both in the United States and the global Diaspora in other ways.

Some major historical landmarks
•1960s: Vernon Alden, 15th President of Ohio University, actively recruited African American students during his administration.

•1968: African American students insisted that President Alden create a Black Resource Center which included counseling services, recruitment, a program that focused on Afro-American Culture, and a loan program.

•1969: A proposal for a Black Studies Institute at Ohio University was presented. The proposal was prepared by Ronald Williams, Ph.D., Acting Chair of the Black Steering Committee; Taylor Culbert, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College; and Edward Penson, Ph.D., Assistant Provost.

•1969: President Alden agreed to fund the development of a program for Black students. A pledge was made to create an executive dean for Afro-American affairs and $250,000 was allocated to fund the program. William Sutton was appointed Acting Director of the Institute.

•1969: The Black Studies Institute offered its first set of classes in the fall quarter. Nine courses were listed: Patterns of Thought in the Black Community; History of non-Western societies; Comparative Study of Injustice; Socio-economic Dimensions of the Black Predicament; Psychology of Colonialism; Literature with “Third World” Overtones; American Pluralism; History of Integration; Independent Studies.

•1969: Dr. Ronald Williams was appointed Executive Dean of Afro-American Affairs, and William S. Sutton continued to serve as Acting Director of the Center for Afro-American Studies Institute, which housed the Black Studies Institute and the Black Resource Center.

•1971: Curtis L. Richardson became the first graduate of the class of 1971 to earn a degree in Black Studies at Ohio University.

•1971-72: Dr. Harry Morgan was appointed the Executive Dean of the Center for Afro-American Studies Institute.

•1972: Dr Harry Morgan resigned as the Executive Dear of the Center for Afro- American Studies Institute.

•1973-74: Dr. James F. Barnes was appointed the second Dean of the Center for Afro-American Studies Institute.

•1974: Professor Robert Rhodes was appointed Director of the Center for Afro-American Studies Institute.

•1977: Thomas J. Porter was appointed Acting Dean of the Center for Afro-American Studies Institute.

•1980: Dr. Vattel T. Rose was appointed Director of the Department of Afro-American Studies, and from 1983 to 1985, he served as Chair of the Department.

•1982: The Department releases the publication of Black Cinema Aesthetics: Issues in Independent Black Filmmaking, edited by Gladstone L. Yearwood, which developed out of Confrontation: A Journal of Third World Studies. Confrontation provided critical and scholarly reflections of theory and practice relating to the global African experience, with conceptual focal points of historical, political, economic, artistic, and socio-cultural examinations.

•1985: Dr. Francine C. Child was appointed Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies.

•1989: Dr. Vattel T. Rose assumed his second tenure as Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies until 2002.

•1994: The Department of Afro-American Studies changed its name to the Department of African American Studies.

•2002-03: Dr. Vibert Cambridge was appointed Interim Chair of the Department, and by 2004 he was appointed Chair of the Department. Dr. Cambridge organized the conference, “The African Diaspora in the Americas: Current Research.”

•2003: The Board of Trustees approved the creation of the African American Research and Service Institute (AARSI).

•2004: The Department launched the journal Black Praxis in both electronic and print formats. The Department also organized its first Community and Campus Day.

•2005: AARSI launched the “African American Presence in the Ohio River Valley Oral History Project” and appointed its first Coordinator, Deanda Johnson.

•2007: Dr. Najee Muhammad was appointed interim Chair of the Department.

•2008: Dr. Ronald J. Stephens was appointed Chair of the Department by Dean Benjamin Ogles of the College of Arts and Sciences.

•2008-09: The Department of African American Studies celebrated its 40th Anniversary with a series of events to shed light on the state of the discipline and the Department’s history. The symposium, “Looking Back, Moving Forward,” brought Drs. Cornel West and Angela Davis to campus, as well as introduced an annual Hip-Hop Expo event.

•2009: Honoring the many years of service Dr. Francine Childs provided to the Department and the University community, the faculty of the Department named its seminar room the Francine C. Childs Seminar Room.

•2010: The Department revised its curriculum as a result of a University-wide conversion from quarter to semester system.

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