African American Studies

A Monument to Blacknessoffers an in-depth look at Black murals across the United States, from interior murals in the South to street murals predominantly in the North and West. It shows us how Black murals were--and remain--an integral but commonly...

The promise of Reconstruction sparked a transformative era in American history as free and newly emancipated Black Americans sought to redefine their place in a nation still grappling with the legacy of slavery. Often remembered as a period of failed...

In 1787, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones left the predominantly white St. George Methodist Episcopal Church to protest the racism and discrimination they faced. A few years later, both men would create their own African American Christian denominations...

The poultry processing industry in El Dorado, Arkansas, was an economic powerhouse in the latter half of the twentieth century. It was the largest employer in the interconnected region of South Arkansas and North Louisiana surrounding El Dorado, and the...

We must speak the word ancestor. We must call their names. We must see them at work. The hand of ancestors in our affairs is undeniable. They exist all around us, motivating individuals and cultures. And yet, the United States is a nation that does not...

An essay on Black-Jewish relations, primarily in the United States, by a professor of African American History who became embroiled in controversy over his classroom use of a book detailing the well- documented Jewish role in the Atlantic slave trade. ...

The authors present the importance of this African tradition. Kindezi (the art of babysitting) and the ndezi (the babysitters) provide extensive value and service to both society and the individual child, making for a cohesive, unified community.

Hubert Henry Harrison's When Africa Awakes is an important collection of essays and articles written by one of America's great, but seldom noted intellectuals. The collection, originally published in 1920, provides valuable insight on the PanAfrican...

When Lady Lugard sat down to write A Tropical Dependency, it was not her intention to inspire generations of Africans to regain the independence of their countries. Lugard writes of slavery as though it was a God-given right of Europeans to own Africans...

From first-hand observations and study, Volney demonstrates that early Nile Valley Africans provided a basis for the civilization of his time.

In Black Seminarians, Dr. Ben outlines sources of Black theology before Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, showing how their ideas, practices, and concepts were already old in Africa before Europe was born.

Dr. Ben destroys the myth of a "white Jewish race" and the bigotry that has denied the existence of an African Jewish culture. He establishes the legitimacy of contemporary Black Jewish culture in Africa and the diaspora and predates its origin before...