DAAS Annual Report

Department of African American Studies

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Jacob Lawrence The Library 1960 National Museum of American Art

2009-2010 Annual Report Department of African American Studies

2009-2010 Annual Report

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Message from the Department Head

2. Our Story

3. Our People Faculty Scholar-in-Residence Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Associate Librarian and Bibliographer Staff Teaching and Research Assistants Zero-Time Appointments and Departmental Affiliates

4. In the Spotlight Achievements and Honors Publications

5. Departmental Awards and Honors Faculty and Student Awards Faculty Ranked as Excellent by Their Students

6. Academics Programs Program Enrollments Course Offerings Course Enrollments New Course Approvals

7. Events and Programs Activity Calendar Featured Programs

8. Outreach Activities

9. Co-Sponsorships

10. Alumni

11. Appendices Journals Fall 2010 Course Offerings

12. An Afterward…

3 Message from the Department Head…

It is my pleasure to share with you this annual report chronicling the successes of the Department of African American Studies here at the Urbana-Champaign campus. This, of course, should be read as a periodic update. It has been just two years since the University of Illinois Board of Trustees approved our advance from an academic Program to a Department. This move, as you know, was significant and has important implications for the University of Illinois students, faculty, alumni, and community. After 39 years as a program, the approval of our proposal to become a department immediately signaled to the broader community the university’s commitment to national prominence in African American studies.

With seventeen core faculty, two scholars-in-residence, one postdoctoral research associate, one librarian, and nearly 40 affiliate and zero-time faculty, the Department of African American Studies stands tall as a leading ethnic studies unit on campus and a leading African American studies research department among its peers internationally. Its reputation is supported by having three editors of nationally recognized periodicals— The NAACP’s Crisis magazine, the peer reviewed journal of the National Communication Association titled Critical Studies in Media Communication, and Illinois’ Department of African American Studies’ very own journal Black Women, Gender, & Families currently being published by University of Illinois Press.

Additionally, the department houses H-AfroAm and eBlack Studies, two nationally recognized online resources that weekly inform scholars throughout the nation about ongoing academic issues, activities, publications, and tools. It is significant that Professor Abdul Alkalimat has led national efforts in eBlack Studies and has done so from the University of Illinois. This, coupled with our collaborative relationship with Director of ICHASS Kevin Franklin’s external funding initiatives on new and emergent technologies, uniquely allows us the capacity to be the first African American Studies department in the world to produce ebooks, with embedded multimedia, digitally based instructional archives, and other applications that seamlessly weave information technologies and real lives and experiences with the wellspring of expertise among our faculty. This, of course, will facilitate the delivery of cutting edge knowledge in the discipline of African American studies and beyond.

In this report you will find evidence of at least three aspects, beyond technology, that distinguish this department from its peers internationally: (1) research and pedagogical emphases; (2) outreach; (3) and faculty.

Research & Pedagogical Emphases Some people measure productivity by rankings. There has never been a ranking of African American Studies programs, so I can’t tell you we are #1 among the nearly 100 African American Studies degree-granting programs in the United States. What I can tell you is that no African American studies department has the distinct intellectual focus on Midwestern Black communities that we have. No African American studies department has the focus on women and gender that we do. No African American studies

4 department has a head librarian and bibliographer who sits as core faculty and available for student and faculty consultation as we do with Professor Tom Weissinger. No African American Studies department has produced a series of volumes of Black Scholar, a prestigious national academic journal focusing on African American life, history, and culture. No African American Studies department has had a 3-year multi- campus collaboration with The HistoryMakers as we have. Finally, few other Black Studies units have as clear a commitment to social justice and the transformative possibilities of education as we do.

Outreach Our Kufundisha Institute, a community resource that has sought to address the crisis in public education by working with school personnel, is evidence of this. As you can see there are many distinctive aspects to our Department and we continue to be a valuable resource to local, national, and international communities, to students, and to the university.

Moreover, the Department of African American Studies’ outreach is vast. By the end of the 2009-2010 academic year alone, we had sponsored or co-sponsored nearly two- dozen events reaching thousand of students, faculty, staff, and local community citizens.

Since being approved as a Department, we have also forged new and solidified long- standing relationships with campus units. A proposal was approved this year to formalize a graduate concentration in African American Studies with the Department of Educational Policy Studies.

Additionally, of course, we are VERY enthused about the prospects of the University’s final approval of our proposal for a Masters and PhD program in African American Studies. Perhaps in fall 2011 we will be able to announce the newly approved graduate program. Presently there are nearly three-dozen Masters programs and only ten PhD programs in African American Studies in the United States. The ten PhD programs are at Harvard, Yale, UC Berkeley, Northwestern, Michigan State, UMass, Virginia Tech, Temple, U of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and Indiana University. There are only 4 out of 12 CIC institutions that have these PhD programs. With the campus approval of our proposal we will become the 11th PhD program unless someone else beats us to the punch. Our program will be unique in that it will explore several foci: Black Families; Women, Gender & Sexuality; Racial Formations, Cultural Productions; Black Urban Communities; and Global Interconnections.

Faculty The Department of African American Studies is fortunate to have 17 award winning core faculty and several dozen affiliates. Our faculty have won a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rockefeller Award, Two Emmys, and a plethora of international, national, regional and campus awards. Collectively, our faculty have published over 50 books, a dozen special thematic issues in national journals, and hundreds of articles and chapters. In the last year alone we had 8 books and an average of four articles or chapters per

5 faculty member. To put this in context, the ordinary expectation for humanities and social science faculty is two published essays per year or if you’re a humanities scholar one book every five years. Our output has doubled that expectation. We are clearly among the most prolific faculty on campus and are very well-respected among our disciplinary peers internationally. The work of our prodigious faculty has paid dividends in terms of reputation. We continue to hold national leadership posts as… . President of the National Council of Black Studies, one of the leading Black Studies organizations in the United States. Professor Sundiata Cha-Jua holds this post. . Secretary of the Association for Worldwide African Diaspora held by professor Erik McDuffie. . Editors of two nationally-recognized journals (Black Women, gender, & Families; Critical Studies in Media Communication) and one national periodical (the NAACP’s Crisis magazine). . Finance Board Member of the National Communication Association in charge of marshaling the resources associated with the organization’s $4M budget. This position is held by professor Ronald Jackson

I am pleased to have the privilege of serving as head of the Department of African American Studies. With such a world class faculty I am comforted to know that our students are in great hands. Students take African American Studies courses to prepare for advanced study in graduate and professional schools as well as for careers in business, government, education, law, politics, and other fields. Since we became a department more than 3,800 students have taken our classes. And, the great majority of our faculty have been on the “List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students.” When they walk in the classroom students get direct access to scholars who care about them and their success, scholars who not only want them to succeed but also want them to be informed global citizens compelled to make ethical choices as they take on significant leadership roles in their respective communities, disciplines, and professions. That is indeed the hallmark of the Department of African American Studies with its four-part mission of excellence in research, teaching, service, and public engagement.

When we say we have Real impact on real lives this is more than a slogan or cliché. It is our lifeblood and it is what makes African American Studies special to this university as we continue as active participants in “Stewarding Excellence at Illinois.”

Sincerely,

Ronald L. Jackson II

6 Our Story…

Our beginnings… In 1969, the Chancellor at the University of Illinois appointed the Academic Committee of the Committee on Afro-American Concerns to address issues being raised by students and faculty of color on campus. By 1974 this committee had evolved into the Afro-American Studies and Research Program. In 2005 the name was changed to the African American Studies and Research Program. Through the perseverance and determination of a great many faculty and friends of the unit, in June 2008, what was once an appointed committee became the Department of African American Studies.

This moment… But our work is not yet done. As the matters facing all of us continue to change, so do we. In addition to educating and enlightening our students in African American history, culture, arts and literature, we are also using interdisciplinary approaches to explore race relations, the status of families, gender and masculinity issues, the use of media images, and Internet influences on children and adults. We are developing “collaboratories” to make information available and accessible online. We are receiving grants that allow us to work with local youth. We are traveling overseas to establish relationships with other universities. We are reaching beyond the classroom and into the community, be it our neighborhood or one on the other side of the world.

Who we are… The Department of African American Studies is comprised of sixteen core faculty, a scholar-in- residence, a postdoctoral research associate, a librarian and bibliographer, four staff, fourteen teaching and research assistants, and nearly forty departmental affiliates and zero-percent faculty. The Department is a leading ethnic studies unit on campus and a leading African American studies research department among our peers nationally and internationally. Three of our faculty members serve as editors of nationally recognized periodicals: the NAACP’s Crisis magazine; the peer reviewed journal of the National Communication Association, Critical Studies in Media Communication; and the Department’s very own journal Black Women, Gender, & Families published by the University of Illinois Press. We are also home to H- AfroAm and eBlack Studies; two nationally recognized online resources that weekly inform scholars throughout the nation about ongoing academic issues, activities, publications, and tools.

Where we’re going… A lot has changed over the past forty years, and a lot will change over the next forty! The Department of African American Studies is already building toward our future. A proposal to establish a Master of Arts and a PhD in African American Studies has been submitted and is moving through the approval process. We hope to welcome our first cohort of graduate students in the very near future. The number of units participating in our graduate concentration continues to increase. We have several new courses that address issues facing today’s society and impacting tomorrow’s. We are exploring new technologies to expand our availability to students and local communities. We are strengthening our outreach efforts through community programming and continuing education courses. Our undergraduate enrollment continues to grow, as does the number of undergraduate majors and minors.

Our past is bold, our present is exciting, and our future is bright. Our story continues…

7 Our People…

Faculty

Abdul Alkalimat Professor African American Studies, Graduate School of Library & Information Science Research areas: Community informatics; African American intellectual history [email protected]

Christopher Benson Associate Professor African American Studies, Journalism Research areas: Race and the press; hate crimes [email protected]

Sundiata Cha-Jua Associate Professor African American Studies, History Research areas: Black radicalism and nationalism; community formation [email protected]

Karen Flynn Assistant Professor African American Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies Research areas: Women; racism; feminist and critical anti-racist theory [email protected]

Jennifer Hamer Associate Professor African American Studies, Sociology Research areas: African American fathers, mothers, and families in the U.S. [email protected]

8 Ronald Jackson Professor and Department Head African American Studies, Institute for Communication Research Research areas: Media, race and identity; interracial communication [email protected]

Robin Jarrett Professor African American Studies, Human and Community Development Research areas: Low-income African American families in inner-city areas [email protected]

Clarence Lang Associate Professor African American Studies, History Research areas: African American history; modern U.S. history; labor history [email protected]

Erik McDuffie Assistant Professor African American Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies Research areas: African American women’s activism; Black feminism [email protected]

Ruby Mendenhall Assistant Professor African American Studies, Sociology Research areas: Race and housing; economic mobility; public policy; families [email protected]

Ray Muhammad Assistant Professor African American Studies, Sociology Research areas: Sociology of the family; fatherhood; quantitative methods [email protected]

9 H. Adlai Murdoch Associate Professor African American Studies, French Research areas: Cross-cultural issues of postcolonialism and diaspora [email protected]

Helen Neville Professor African American Studies, Educational Psychology Research areas: Stress and coping processes of African Americans; racial ideologies [email protected]

Marc Perry Assistant Professor African American Studies, Anthropology Research areas: Black transnationalism, racial identity formation [email protected]

Brendesha Tynes Assistant Professor African American Studies, Educational Psychology Research areas: Role of the Internet in development; racial/ethnic identity [email protected]

Scholar-in-Residence

Jabari Asim Scholar-in-Residence African American Studies, Journalism Research areas: African American culture; politics [email protected]

Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Associate

Ifeoma Amah Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Associate African American Studies, Research areas: African American education; high school to college transition [email protected]

10 African American Librarian and Bibliographer

Thomas Weissinger African American Librarian and Bibliographer and Associate Professor African American Studies, African American Research Center Research areas: Black studies bibliography; philosophy of librarianship [email protected]

David Ivy, Account Technician Shirley Olson, Assistant to the Head Willie Summerville, Campus and Community Affairs Specialist Lou Turner, Academic Advisor

Visiting Instructor

Amira Davis, African American Studies, Educational Policy Studies

Graduate Teaching and Research Assistants

Shywon Berry, Educational Policy Studies Anita Bravo, History Letrell Crittenden, Journalism Jonathan Hamilton, Educational Policy Studies Tamara Hoff, Educational Policy Studies Mary Eliza Johannes, Educational Policy Studies Tony Laing, Educational Policy Studies Nathaniel Moore, Library and Information Science Perzavia Praylow, History Kerstin Rudolph, English Natasha Shrikant, Communication Alonzo Ward, History

Graduate and Undergraduate Student Employees

Wesley DeBerry, Journalism Aisha Haykal, Library and Information Science Tony Laing, Educational Policy Studies Erica McKinney, Broadcast Journalism

11 Adjunct Faculty

Kevin Franklin, Adjunct Associate Professor, National Center for Supercomputing Applications James Loewen, Adjunct Professor Menah Pratt-Clarke, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access

Zero-Time (0%) Appointments

James Anderson, Professor and Head, Educational Policy Studies James Barrett, Professor, History Merle Bowen, Professor and Director, Center for African Studies Leon Dash, Professor, Journalism Christopher Fennell, Assistant Professor, Anthropology Rebecca Ginsburg, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture I. Shevon Harvey, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology and Community Health Mark Leff, Associate Professor, History Bruce Levine, Professor, History Cynthia Oliver, Associate Professor, Dance Laurence Parker, Professor, Educational Policy Studies Kathy Perkins, Professor, Theatre F. Adele Proctor, Associate Professor, Speech and Hearing Science David Roediger, Professor, History Gabriel Solis, Associate Professor, Music Siobhan Somerville, Associate Professor, English David Wilson, Professor, Geography

Departmental Affiliates

Joyce Allen-Smith, Associate Professor, Agricultural Economics William Berry, Professor, Advertising Eyamba Bokamba, Professor, Linguistics Adrian Burgos, Jr., Associate Professor, History Jason Chambers, Associate Professor, Advertising C.L. Cole, Professor, Institute of Communications Research, Gender & Women’s Studies Ollie Watts Davis, Professor, Music Violet Harris, Professor, Curriculum and Instruction John Jennings, Associate Professor, Art and Design Jocelyn Landrum-Brown, Program Coordinator, Inclusion & Intercultural Relations Cameron McCarthy, Professor, Educational Policy Studies Jerry Ogbudimkpa, Health Educator, McKinley Health Center Elizabeth Pleck, Professor, History Ernest Scott, Associate Professor, Art and Design Christopher Span, Associate Professor, Educational Policy Studies William Trent, Professor, Educational Policy Studies Arlette Willis, Professor, Curriculum and Instruction Joyce Wright, Associate Professor, Undergraduate Library

12 In the Spotlight…

Achievements and Honors

Ifeoma Amah: 2010 Illinois Distinguished Dissertation Award, Traditional Category

Jabari Asim: 24th ESSENCE Book Club Recommended Read for “A Taste of Honey”; 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts; 2009 Distinguished Cultural Award, Association of Blacks in Higher Education

Christopher Benson: Black Excellence Award, African American Arts Alliance of Chicago, non-fiction (Death of Innocence); Outstanding Black Faculty Member, Black Graduate Students Association; Outstanding Teaching in African American Studies, Department of African American Studies

Sundiata Cha-Jua: 2010-2013 Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lectureship Program; Vice President of the National Council for Black Studies (NCBS); guest editor of the special issue “Black Political Economy” of The Black Scholar (Winter 2010); composed the introduction for the special issue “Black Political Economy” of The Black Scholar (Winter 2010); 2009 Organization of American Historians EBSCOhost America: History and Life Award

Kevin Franklin: Named one of twelve “People to Watch 2010” in high productivity computing by HPC Wire magazine

Rebecca Ginsburg: 2010 Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement

Jennifer Hamer: 2009 Proctor and Gamble Award

Ronald Jackson: 2010 Eastern Communication Association Distinguished Teaching Fellow; editor of Critical Studies in Media Communication; William Gudykunst Memorial Lecture, International Conference on Language and Social Psychology in Brisbane, Australia; Keynote address at the 9th Champaign County-wide Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, “Embracing Brotherhood: Rising Above Personal Confines.”

Robin Jarrett: Visiting Scholar, Michigan State University

Clarence Lang: “Grassroots at the Gateway” was featured in a 2010 issue of the St. Louis Beacon; Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Faculty Fellow; Center for Advanced Studies Fellowship Recipient; 2009 Organization of American Historians EBSCOhost America: History and Life Award

James Loewen: “Teaching What Really Happened” was named a finalist for Book of the Year by ForeWard Review

Erik McDuffie: 2009 Arnold O. Beckman Award from the Campus Research Board; Secretary for the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD)

Ruby Mendenhall: 2010 University of Michigan National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) Postdoctoral Fellowship; 2010 Research Grant from University Housing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Co-PI); 2010 Public Engagement Grant from the University of

13 Illinois Office of the Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement (Co-PI); 2009 Focal Point Grant for the CDMS Racial Microaggressions Working Group from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign Graduate College (Co-PI)

Ray Muhammad: 2010 Public Engagement Grant from the University of Illinois Office of the Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement (Co-PI)

Adlai Murdoch: Special guest editor, Research in African Literatures, Vol. 41 No. 1; composed the editorial introduction for the special issue of Research in African Literatures, Vol. 41 No. 1; composed the editorial introduction for a special issue of International Journal of Francophone Studies, Vol. 11 No.4

Helen Neville: 2010-2013 Associate Provost Fellow; 2009-2010 LAS Faculty Teaching Fellow; 2009 Charles and Shirley Thomas Award for mentoring and contributions to African American students and community, American Psychological Association; 2009 Rockefeller Foundation Residency, Bellagio Center

Brendesha Tynes: 2010 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant; Selected as an “Emerging Scholar” by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

Publications

Journal Articles Cha-Jua, S. Guest editor, Special issue, "Black Political Economy," The Black Scholar, Vol. 40, No. 1, (Winter 2010), 64 pages.

Cha-Jua, S. "Introduction To the Special Issue on Black Political Economy: Obama and the Deteriorating Condition of African America," The Black Scholar, Vol. 40, No. 1, (Winter 2010): 2-6.

Cha-Jua, S. "The New Nadir: The Contemporary Black Racial Formation," in special issue, "Black Political Economy," The Black Scholar, Vol. 40, No. 1, (Winter 2010): 38-58.

DeLuca, S., Duncan, G.J., Mendenhall, R., and Keels, M. (2010). Gautreaux Mothers and their Children: An Update. Housing Policy Debate 20 (1): 7-25.

Jarrett, R.L., Jefferson, S.R. & Kelly, J.N. (forthcoming 2010). Finding community in family: Neighborhood effects and African American extended kinship networks. Journal of Comparative Family Studies

McDuffie, E. “The Diasporic Radicalism of Queen Mother Audley Moore and the Origins of Black Power,” African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal Vol. 3, No. 2 (2010), 181—195

Mendenhall, R. (2010). The Political Economy of Black Housing: From the Housing Crisis of the Great Migrations to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. The Black Scholar 40 (1):20-37.

14 Mendenhall, R. 2009. Families in the Gautreaux Families Housing Mobility Program: Perceptions and Responses to the U.S. Political Economy. The Review of Black Political Economy 36 (3/4): 197-226.

Murdoch, H.A. “Ars poetica, ars politica: The Double Life of Aimé Césaire,” in special issue, “Aimé Césaire, 1913-2008: Poet, Politician, Cultural Statesman”, Research in African Literatures, Vol. 41, No. 1, (Spring 2010).

Murdoch, H.A. “Glissant’s Opacité and the De-Nationalization of Identity,” forthcoming in special issue on Edouard Glissant, John Drabinski, ed., C.L.R. James Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring 2010).

Murdoch, H.A. “Oceanic routes: migrations and métissages in South Pacific literatures and travelogues,” in special issue “Oceanic Routes: Migrations and Métissages in South Pacific Literatures and Travelogues”, International Journal of Francophone Studies, Vol. 11, No. 4 (2009), 481-502.

Murdoch, H.A. “A Legacy of Trauma: Caribbean Slavery, Race, Class and Contemporary Identity in Abeng,” in special issue to Commemorate the Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade, Adeleke Adeeko, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza and Natasha Barnes, eds., Research in African Literatures, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Winter 2009), 65-88.

Murdoch, H.A. “Autobiography and Departmentalization in Chamoiseau's Chemin-d'école: Re- presentative Strategies for the Martinican Memoir,” in Research in African Literatures Vol. 40, No. 2 (2009), 16-39.

Book Chapters Cha-Jua, S. "The Changing Same: Black Racial Formation and Transformation as a Theory of the African American Experience" in Race Struggles (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 9-47. ).

Cha-Jua, S. "Struggle: Introduction and Reading Questions to Part 3," chapter in Race Struggles edited by Ted Koditschek, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, and Helen Neville (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 205-10.

Koditschek, T., Cha-Jua, S., and Neville, H. "Introduction," "Conclusion," and "Glossary," chapters in Race Struggles edited by Ted Koditschek, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, and Helen Neville (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009), vii-xi, 308-316, and 317-23.

Jackson, R. L. (2009). Mapping cultural communication research: 1960s to the present. In J. Chesebro (Ed.), A Century of Transformation: Studies in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Eastern Communication Association. (pp. 272-292). New York: Oxford University Press.

Lang, C. “Between Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Mason-Dixon Line: A Case Study of Black Freedom Militancy in the Gateway City,” in Theodore Koditschek, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, and Helen A. Neville, eds., Race Struggles (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 231-259.

15 Lang, C. “Black Power on the Ground: Continuity and Rupture in St. Louis,” in Peniel E. Joseph, ed., Neighborhood Rebels: Black Power at the Local Level (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 67-89.

McDuffie, E. “‘[N]o small amount of change could do’: Esther Cooper Jackson and the Making of a Black Left Feminist,” in Want to Start a Revolution: Women in the Black Revolt eds. Komozi Woodard, Jeanne Theoharis, and Dayo Gore (Incomplete work under contract to New York University Press)

McDuffie, E. “Black Women’s Freedom as a Global Issue: Esther Cooper Jackson, Black Left Feminism, and the Cold War,” in Anticommunism and the African American Freedom Movement. 1945-1960: Another Side of the Story, ed. Robbie Liberman and Clarence Lang (New York: Palgrave, 2009): 81-114.

McDuffie, E. “Esther V. Cooper’s ‘The Negro Woman Domestic Worker in Relation to Trade Unionism’: Black Left Feminism and the Popular Front,” in Red Activists and Black Freedom: James and Esther Jackson and the Long Civil Rights Movement, ed. David Levering Lewis and Daniel J. Leab (New York: Routledge, 2010): 33-40.

Books and Monographs Asim, J. A Taste of Honey: Stories. Broadway Books, March 2010.

Asim, J. Boy of Mine. Little, Brown Publishers, April 2010.

Asim, J. Girl of Mine. Little, Brown Publishers, April 2010.

Jackson, R. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Identity (two volumes). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 1000 pages.

Koditschek, T., Cha-Jua, S. and Neville, H. (eds.). Race Struggles. University of Illinois Press, Fall 2009, 352 pages.

Lang, C. Grassroots at the Gateway: Class Politics and Black Freedom Struggle in St. Louis, 1936-75 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009).

Lieberman, R. and Lang, C., eds., Anticommunism and the African American Freedom Movement: “Another Side of the Story” (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Book Reviews Cha-Jua, S. The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee. By Patrick D. Jones. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009). The Journal of American History, Vol. 96, No. 4, (March 2010): 150.

Cha-Jua, S. The St. Louis African American Community and the Exodusters. By Bryan M. Jack (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008). American Historical Review, Vol. 114, No. 3, (October 2010): 1091.

16 Cha-Jua, S. American Pogrom: The East St. Louis Race Riot and Black Politics. By Charles L. Lumpkins. (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2008). Journal of African American History Vol. 94, No. 2, (Spring 2009): 287-90.

Cha-Jua, S. American Pogrom: The East St. Louis Race Riot and Black Politics. By Charles L. Lumpkins. (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2008). Journal of Illinois History Vol. 12, No. 3, (Autumn 2009): 244-46.

Departmental Awards and Honors

2009 Faculty and Student Awards

Outstanding Graduate Research Paper Award Ashley Howard

Outstanding Teaching in African American Studies Award Sundiata Cha-Jua

Outstanding Research Contribution in African American Studies Award Brendesha Tynes

John Lee Johnson Excellence in Community Engagement and Activism Award Rebecca Ginsburg

2010 Faculty and Student Awards

Outstanding Graduate Research Paper Award Nancy Joseph

Outstanding Teaching in African American Studies Award Christopher Benson

Faculty Ranked as Excellent by UIUC Students

Spring 2009 Robin Jarrett (AFRO 495) Clarence Lang (AFRO 550) Erik McDuffie (AFRO 342) Ruby Mendenhall (AFRO 490) Menah Pratt-Clarke (AFRO 498).

Fall 2009 Christopher Benson (AFRO 410) Robin Jarrett (AFRO 398) Erik McDuffie (AFRO 298)

17 Academic Programs

The Major and Minor

Undergraduate Major in African American Studies This is the foundational undergraduate degree of the Department of African American Studies (DAAS). Given that we have recently transitioned from a 39-year status as a premier African American Studies program to an approved degree-granting department, this is only the second year we have conferred baccalaureate degrees. Firmly rooted in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts, the central objective of the major in African American Studies (AAS) is to provide students with a transdiciplinary perspective on the origin, role and policy implications of race in the United States and world political economy, society and culture, over time. AAS students will learn diverse concepts, theories and methodologies for analyzing the experiences and perspectives and the cultural and intellectual production of African Americans and African descended people, largely though not exclusively in the United States. An African American studies major will be encouraged to achieve excellence in developing vital creative and critical competencies, including oral and written communication, computer and statistical skills. Students majoring in AAS will also be encouraged to join a new generation of leadership grounded in African American studies knowledge and committed to public engagement to meet the continuing challenges of a diverse democratic society; and to foster national discourse to produce public policy aimed at achieving social justice.

This program is designed to serve undergraduate students primarily interested in the social sciences and humanities, though all students are welcome and encouraged to enroll in the program. This program prepares students for graduate study and research in traditional disciplines and interdisciplinary fields and for careers in the private or public sectors such as teaching, social work, human resources, criminal justice, management and administration, city planning, marketing, policy-making, medicine and law.

Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Minor in African American Studies The Department of African American Studies (DAAS) offers a campus-wide interdisciplinary minor in African-American Studies. DAAS’s minor is premised on the following principles: Interdisciplinary, the centrality of Black women and gender, the use of the Global Africa/African Diaspora as a contextualizing framework and an emphasis on black agency or the self-activity of African peoples.

Graduate Minor and Graduate Concentration in African American Studies The interdisciplinary Graduate Minor in African American Studies is designed to explore a wide range of information and scholarship in African American studies and its subfields. Students have an opportunity to work with a broad and dynamic group of African Americanist scholars across the humanities and social sciences, and the arts and professions. Graduate students enrolled in the program are encouraged to participate in all African American Studies activities, including the Department’s lecture series, conferences, and reading groups. African American Studies at Illinois emphasizes historically specific critical analyses of black racial formation, the particular experiences of Black women, gender construction, and African American agency, in the context of constantly evolving political economies, governmental policies, and popular culture. This emphasis reflects both the strength of a large and diverse group of core and faculty affiliates, and the department’s guiding principles. African American Studies at Illinois is

18 committed to constructing a new paradigm for Black Studies, one that explores the interconnections between African Americans transnational black populations, and other racialized communities in the United States and their relationship to other forms of social oppression. Intrinsic to this new model is a revitalization of Black Studies’ commitment to public engagement and social transformation.

A graduate minor requires 12 credit hours of study in graduate courses from an approved list of African Americans Studies courses; the graduate concentration requires 24 credit hours.

2009-2010 Program Enrollments

Undergraduate Majors: 17 Undergraduate Minors: 28 Graduate Minors: 6 Graduate Concentration Students: 10

Courses Offered during the 2009-2010 Academic Year*

AFRO 100: Introduction to African American Studies AFRO 101: Black America, 1619-Present AFRO 102: Researching the African American Experience AFRO 103: Black Women in the Diaspora AFRO 199: 100 Strong--Academics, Leadership and Community AFRO 220: Introduction to Research Methods in African American Studies AFRO 224: Humanistic Perspectives of the Afro-American Experience AFRO 261: Introduction to the African Diaspora AFRO 298: Special Topics in African American Studies AFRO 342: Black Men and Masculinities AFRO 372: Class Politics and Black Community AFRO 383: History of Black Women’s Activism AFRO 398: Special Topics in African American Studies AFRO 410: Hate Crimes AFRO 490: Theory in African American Studies AFRO 495: Senior Thesis Seminar AFRO 498: Special Topics in African American Studies AFRO 500: Core Problems in African American Studies AFRO 552: Ethnography of Urban Communities AFRO 598: Research Seminar in African American Studies *Cross-listed courses controlled by another department are not included here.

19 Course Enrollments*

Course Fall 2009 Spring 2010 Summer 2010 TOTALS AFRO 100 74 100 174 AFRO 101 153 50 18 221 AFRO 102 11 11 AFRO 103 46 55 101 AFRO 199 128 68 196 AFRO 220 13 13 AFRO 224 28 16 44 AFRO 261 33 33 AFRO 298 15 19 34 AFRO 342 32 44 76 AFRO 372 33 33 AFRO 383 32 32 AFRO 398 37 1 38 AFRO 410 34 33 67 AFRO 490 9 9 AFRO 495 17 17 AFRO 498 7 7 AFRO 500 4 4 AFRO 552 13 13 AFRO 598 3 3 TOTALS 587 520 19 1,126 *Cross-listed courses controlled by another department are not included here.

New Course Approvals

AFRO 212 Introduction to African American Theatre 3 hours Focuses on theatre artists, theatre companies, and the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Students will read plays, view productions, screen documentaries, and examine various primary sources.

AFRO 215 U.S. Citizenship Comparatively 3 hours Examines the racial, gendered, and sexualized aspects of U.S. citizenship historically and comparatively. Interdisciplinary course taught from a humanities perspective. Readings draw from critical legal studies, history, literature, literary criticism, and ethnography.

AFRO 382 African American Families in Film 3 hours

20 Uses film as case studies to examine the diverse structures, social classes, and internal dynamics among African American families. Critical family processes such as family formation patterns, dating mate selection, parenting, male-female/gender relations, child adolescent, and adult development, family routines and practices, family communication, and family stress and coping will be examined. We also consider how families interact within larger contexts, such as the local neighborhood and key institutions (school, workplace, social service agencies). Films will be supplemented with readings drawn for diverse disciplines (African American Studies, Anthropology, Family Studies, History, Psychology, and Sociology) that allow us to examine key substantive, theoretical, methodological, and policy issues in the study of African American families.

AFRO 504 Black Women's Studies 4 hours The study of black women and gender within critical discourses of history, the social sciences, and the humanities. Students are introduced to interdisciplinary and Black Women's Studies paradigms as means to study and understand the experiences of black women in the U.S. and other racialized women's groups.

AFRO 505 Proseminar I 1 hour Provides PhD students in African American Studies a review of the responsibilities of professional African American Studies scholars. This part introduces students to current debates and issues in the discipline, program requirements and expectations. (Effective Fall 2011.)

AFRO 506 Proseminar II 1 hour The second of three proseminars for PhD students in African American Studies. Provides students with a review of the responsibilities of professional African American Studies scholars and emphasizes processes of Master Paper development, writing, and conference presentations. Approved for S/U grading only. (Effective Fall 2011.)

AFRO 507 Proseminar III 1 hour The final of three proseminars for PhD students in African American Studies. Provides students with a review of the responsibilities of professional African American Studies scholars and emphasizes issues of pedagogy, research, and publication in the discipline of African American Studies. (Effective Fall 2011.)

AFRO 508 Dissertation Design Practicum 1 hour

21 Facilitates the development of dissertation proposals for PhD students in African American Studies. (Effective Fall 2011.)

AFRO 595 Directed Independent Readings 1 to 4 hours Primarily but not exclusively for students who are completing a minor or concentration in African American Studies. May be repeated in the same or separate terms to a maximum of 12 hours.

AFRO 599 Thesis Research 0 to 16 hours Individual direction in research and guidance in writing theses and dissertations for advanced degrees. May be repeated in separate terms. (Effective Fall 2011.)

Fall 2010 Course Offerings

AFRO 100: Introduction to African American Studies AFRO 101: Black America, 1619-Present AFRO 103: Black Women in the Diaspora AFRO 199: Developing Leadership in African American Communities AFRO 212: Introduction African American Theatre AFRO 215: US Citizenship Comparatively AFRO 224: Humanist Perspective of the Afro-American Experience AFRO 225: Race and Ethnicity AFRO 259: Afro-American Literature I AFRO 298: African American Life and History Between Wars AFRO 310: Race and Cultural Diversity AFRO 312: Psychology of Race & Ethnicity AFRO 342: Black Men and Masculinities AFRO 398: Haiti in Crisis: Critical Interpretations of Media and Literary Representations of Haitian History and Migration AFRO 398: Immersion Journalism AFRO 407: Slavery & Race in Latin America AFRO 410: Hate Crimes AFRO 421: Racial and Ethnic Families AFRO 474: Black Freedom Movement, 1955-Present AFRO 500: Core Problems in African American Studies AFRO 501: Problems in African American History AFRO 598: Theory and Practice of Black Power in Higher Education AFRO 598: African American Women and Relationships

22 Events and Programs Calendar

September 2009 Thursday, September 10, 7:00 p.m.--S.P.E.A.K. Café; “Hip Hopoetry: The Pulse of the People”, Krannert Art Museum Thursday, September 17, 3:00 p.m.--All-DAAS Department Meeting; 404 Illini Union Wednesday, September 23, Center for African Studies Lecture; DAAS professor Erik McDuffie Wednesday, September 23, 12:00 p.m.--DAAS and Counseling Psychology Program Luncheon with Dr. Joseph White

October 2009 Thursday, October 15, 7:00 p.m.--S.P.E.A.K. Café, “My Mic Sounds Nice, Come Check!”, Krannert Art Museum

November 2009 Thursday, November 5, 3:00 p.m.--DAAS Faculty Meeting; 1201 West Nevada Street Thursday, November 12, 7:00 p.m.--S.P.E.A.K. Café, “Come Speak 4ya self”, Krannert Art Museum

February 2010 Thursday, February 11, 7:00 p.m.--S.P.E.A.K. Café, “BLACK emPOWER is Meant”; Krannert Art Museum Tuesday, February 16, 11:30 a.m.--Inclusive Illinois Diversity Roundtable “The State of Blacks at Illinois”; Illini Room A, Illini Union Tuesday, February 23, 4:00 p.m.--W.E.B. DuBois Lecture and Reception, Elaine Salo; Levis Faculty Center Wednesday, February 24, 7:00 p.m.--Majors/Minors Open House; 1201 West Nevada Street

March 2010 Thursday, March 11, 3:00 p.m.--DAAS Faculty Meeting; 1201 West Nevada Street Thursday, March 11, 7:00 p.m.--S.P.E.A.K. Café, “The Women Gather”; Krannert Art Museum Wednesday, March 31, 7:30 p.m.--“The Moment” co-written and co-produced (with David Barr III) by DAAS professor Chris Benson; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

April & May 2010 Thursday, April 8, 7:00 p.m.--S.P.E.A.K. Café, “Passionate Ongoing Eternal Technician Speak”, Krannert Art Museum Monday, April 26, 4:00 p.m.--DAAS Awards Reception; 1201 West Nevada Street Thursday, April 29, 2:00 p.m. –Elijah Anderson, Yale University, Guest Lecture, GSLIS Monday, May 3, 7:00p.m. –Annual Spring Community Gospel Concert directed by DAAS’ Willie Summerville.

23 Featured Programs

S.P.E.A.K. Café is a monthly, open mic event for University students and community members to engage in original, creative expressionism that addresses current issues. Performers use artistic means such as poetry, spoken verse, and dramatic readings to pose and solve problems centered on a central theme at each session.

The Inclusive Illinois Diversity Roundtable luncheon “The State of Blacks at Illinois” featured campus and civic leaders discussing the state of Black Studies, Black student enrollment, and the recruitment and retention of Black students and faculty at the University of Illinois. Panelists addressed such issues as minority student access, enrollment, academic achievement, graduation rates, and faculty hiring and promotion. The event was co-sponsored by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access (OEOA) and the Department of African American Studies (DAAS) and featured Ronald Jackson, Michael Jeffries, Carol Livingstone, Clarence Shelley, and William Trent as speakers.

Dr. Elaine Salo, Director of the Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Pretoria, South Africa was the guest lecturer at the W.E.B. DuBois Lecture on Pan Africanism sponsored by the Center for African Studies and the Department of African American Studies. In her talk, “Lessons in Leadership for Africa: Listening to and Learning from Feminist Pan African Discussions, Activism, and Scholarship”, Dr. Salo stated that in order to transform South Africa’s educational institutions, collaborative efforts must actively break down the artificial divides between the academy and civil society and the hierarchies of knowledge production between these sectors.

“THE MOMENT”: A Stage Reading was the culminating event in a three-year collaboration between the University of Illinois and The HistoryMakers, Inc. Renowned Chicago playwright David Barr III and DAAS’ own Christopher Benson co-wrote and co-produced the show to engage academic and local community audiences with the living history of remarkable African Americans such Oscar Brown, Jr., Harry Belafonte, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Marva Collins, Sonia Sanchez, Vernon Jarrett, and Ruth Davis. The narratives used in the show were gleaned from The HistoryMakers’ archives. Students and faculty from various disciplines across campus comprised the cast and production staff for “The Moment”. Outreach Activities

In addition to formal programs, the Department of African American Studies interacts with the community in a number of ways. We have teamed up with Professor Rebecca Ginsburg to provide books to incarcerated students through the Education Justice Program. Mr. Willie Summerville teaches a continuing education course on sacred music that enrolls community members as well as University students. At the end of each semester Mr. Summerville and his students present a public concert featuring local church choirs, students from local school choirs, special guests, and members of the class. He has also taught the course at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Professor James Loewen participates in public lectures through the Unit One Living Learning Community. Professors Ray Muhammad and Ruby Mendenhall recently received a grant to work with local high school students to write letters to President Obama regarding youth violence. Faculty and staff from several campus units participated in the grant activities to help students improve their writing skills, learn to express their ideas constructively, and to develop problem solving abilities. Professor Abdul Alkalimat is

24 engaged in a community broadband project that provides computers and internet access to local businesses and patrons who would not have access otherwise. Professor Alkalimat is also leading a project to digitize historical information about the Black communities of Champaign and Urbana. Co-Sponsorships

The Department of African American Studies works closely with several units on campus to co- sponsor programs and activities. During 2009-2010, the following departments and programs provided financial assistance, advertising, or in-kind donations to DAAS events:

American Indian Studies Program Asian American Studies Program Center for Advanced Study Office of the Chancellor Department of English Office of Equal Opportunity and Access Graduate School of Library and Information Science Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations Department of Journalism Krannert Art Museum Krannert Center for the Performing Arts College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Office of the President Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory Office of the Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement

Likewise, DAAS is committed to supporting the efforts of colleagues across campus. Financial assistance, advertising, or in-kind donations were made to the following units:

African Cultural Association Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center Center for African Studies School of Art and Design Asian American Studies Program Black Graduate Student Association Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society College of Education Office of Equal Opportunity and Access Graduate School of Library and Information Science Department of History Office of International Studies and Programs Krannert Art Museum Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Department of Sociology Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory Office of the Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement Women of Color

25 Support was also provided to:

C-U Haiti Relief Committee The HistoryMakers, Inc. National Association of Black Journalists

Alumni

In the fall of 1988, DAAS began offering an interdisciplinary minor in African American Studies. Twenty years later, in June 2008, the Illinois Board of Higher Education approved a proposal giving the Department the right to grant Bachelor of Arts degrees. Students were able officially declare African American Studies as their major in the fall of 2008, and our first cohort of seniors graduated in May 2009.

Spring 2009 Majors Spring 2009 Minors Akua Agyeman Jaime Cornejo Juren Ochuku Ekwejunor-Etchie Ernest Crim Melissa E. Kresin Amber Norwood Jovanda M. Warren George Ploss Tolulope Tepede Cara Walton Olivia Young

Fall 2009 Majors Fall 2009 Minors Mallory Nicole Martin Candyce Monique Neil Alexis M. McLaughlin

Spring 2010 Majors Spring 2010 Minors Tanesha Clausell Daneke Anderson Landon Jordan Sesali Bowen Taylor-Imani Linear Porshe Garner Porsha Olayiwola Brittany Heath Cleveland Pitts Jordan Matthis Vivianne Vil Erica McKinney Gary Miller Sammie Mosley Tolani Odutayo Shantee Randle Jessica Robinson Chaya Sandler Erik Silis Kristen Smith Shemari Wilcoxon

26 Journals/Periodicals Edited by DAAS Faculty

Black Women, Gender & Families, edited by Jennifer Hamer http://www.bwgf.uiuc.edu/

27 Crisis, edited by Jabari Asim http://www.thecrisismagazine.com/

28 Critical Studies in Media Communication, edited by Ronald Jackson II http://www.natcom.org/index.asp?bid=212

29 An Afterward…

The Department of African American Studies would like to thank Professor William (Bill) Berry, for his many years of service, dedication, and support. As the Associate Chancellor overseeing the multicultural environment on campus, Bill has offered insight and guidance in a number of areas including recruitment and retention of faculty and students, strategic planning, budgeting, development, and unit governance. He was a major proponent of the Program gaining departmental status and provided invaluable advice in preparing the proposal and moving it through the approval process. He is just as supportive of the proposal to establish a doctoral degree in African American Studies.

Over the years, Bill has attended numerous events sponsored by our unit, including open houses, lectures, faculty retreats, receptions, conference programs, and award ceremonies. He greets everyone with a warm smile and a friendly handshake. He is as accessible to students as he is to University administrators.

Bill Berry is a true friend to the Department of African American Studies and we wish him all the best as he moved on to the next chapter of his life. Thanks again, Bill, and “Happy Retirement”!

Three other colleagues are leaving the Department and the University to continue pursuing their career goals. Professor Marc Perry, Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Anthropology, has accepted a faculty position at Tulane University beginning in Fall 2010. Marc was a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in 2004-2005 and joined the UI faculty in August 2005. His research interests include the cultural politics of the African Diaspora, black transnationalisms, racial identity formation, race and blackness in Latin America, black expressive culture, and black diasporic film.

Mr. Jabari Asim has served as Scholar-in-Residence and Visiting Lecturer in the Departments of African American Studies and Journalism since August 2008. He is Editor-in-Chief of the NAACP’s “Crisis” magazine, author of What Obama Means and The ‘N’ Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why. In addition to other recognitions, Jabari received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2009 to continue his work on a book about violence in African American communities. He has accepted a faculty position at Emory College beginning in Fall 2010.

Dr. Ifeoma Amah was the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow for 2009-2010. Her areas of research include

We thank each of these individuals for their contributions to African American Studies at the University of Illinois, and we wish them much success and they move forward with their work.