Department of African American & African Studies
808 Social Science Building
267 19th Ave South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Phone: 612-624-9847
E-mail: afroam@umn.edu

African American & African Studies Celebrates 40 Years

V-Day

Updates will be posted on our 40th anniversary blog.

The Department of African American & African Studies will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2009!  To mark this historic occasion we are collaborating with a dynamic group of alumni and community members to plan several activities.  To begin, the Morrill Hall 40th Anniversary Organizing and Planning Committee will conduct a two-day conference and gala dinner in January 2009, to

  • commemorate the January 1969 Morrill Hall takeover that led to the formation of the department in the fall of 1969
  • examine the current status of African American student recruitment, admission, retention, and graduation
  • create strategies for advancing the university’s goal of becoming a top three public research institution–such a goal cannot be achieved without a strong commitment to the work done in publicly-engaged ethnic studies units

In addition to the January conference and gala dinner, we are organizing “We Still Have a Charge to Keep,” a series of events to be held throughout 2009.

We Still Have a Charge To Keep

African Diaspora Speaker Series

In the 2008 Givens Foundation NOMMO series, AA&AS professor Alexs Pate interviews and moderates discussions with prominent African American literary figures.

In our African Diaspora series our faculty will interview and moderate discussions with prominent scholars about rethinking and redeploying understandings of the African Diaspora:

  • Professor Njeri Githire will interview a literary figure
  • Professor Rose Brewer will interview a social scientist
  • Professors Yuichiro Onishi and Keith Mayes will interview a historian
  • Professor Aleks Pate will interview a cultural critic

Organic Intellectuals Community Events

Several prominent members of the Twin Cities African American and African communities are widely known and praised as intellectual leaders, even though they might not have formal college educations. Professor Rose Brewer will moderate a series of events held at various community sites where these organic intellectuals will debate ideas and possible solutions to pressing socioeconomic issues with AA&AS faculty and other community members.

"What Every African American Should Read" Series

In 2007, the magazine n+1 published a pamphlet, What We Should Have Known: Two Discussions, that contains transcriptions of two conversations among authors discussing books they should have read in college.  Professors John Wright and Alexs Pate will convene two panel discussions (of academics, authors, and community educators) to generate two lists of books that African Americans should read. One list will be for children, the other for adults.

African American and African Film Series

Documentaries about African and African American experiences will be purchased and screened in monthly sessions that will include a panel discussion of faculty, students, and artists. Professor John Wright will moderate this series.

Black Student Union Events

The January conference will contain at least one student event (a panel of students discussing Nerve Juice, a memoir about the Morrill Hall takeover) and one event for members of the community. After the conference at least one additional student event will be scheduled in the Black Student Union, to which the public will be invited.

African American and African Studies Play

A play will be commissioned and performed about the history and evolution of African American & African studies at the University of Minnesota. The play might be modeled on Peace Crimes: The Minnesota 8 vs. The War.

Public Art Creation

Public art will be purchased and installed.  One possible piece might be “Walking Warrior I,” created by sculptor Melvin Smith, who was a student in 1969.  Another option might be painting a mural on the 8th floor of the Social Sciences Tower (home to the Department of African American & African Studies).