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Section: Demographics > African-American

Counting on Black

Counting on BlackHistorically Black colleges offer symbolic venue for candidates wanting to connect with Black votersBy Ronald RoachThe push for a connection between Black American voters and the campaigns of Democratic Party presidential candidates reached a symbolic high in September when the contenders squared off in a nationally televised debate on the campus of Morgan […]

December 3, 2003

African-American

Afro-Latin Week Celebrates African Heritage of South America

Afro-Latin Week Celebrates African Heritage of South AmericaATLANTAAccording to U.S. Census reports, there are 38.8 million Hispanics now living in the United States as compared to 38.3 million Blacks or African Americans. However, the federal government’s claim that Hispanics have passed Blacks as the largest “minority” ethnic group confuses language and ethnicity. The claim implies […]

November 19, 2003

African-American

Book on British Movement to End Slavery Wins Frederick Douglass Prize

Book on British Movement to End Slavery Wins Frederick Douglass PrizeNEW YORKA major study on the British movement to end slavery is the 2003 first prize winner of the annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize, awarded by Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition. Second prize will go to an […]

November 19, 2003

African-American

Public School Reform Would Close Racial Gap in Education, Authors Say

Public School Reform Would Close Racial Gap in Education, Authors SayWASHINGTONThe racial gap in learning is largely due to culture and can be narrowed by restructuring the educational system so that it rewards the best and most in-demand teachers for working in the inner cities, argue two scholars in a new book.Drs. Stephan and Abigail […]

November 19, 2003

African-American

A Bonanza of Black Journals

A Bonanza of Black JournalsHere is a brief listing of Black journals. Most feature a mixture of literature and political and social commentary — though some, like Transitions, concentrate on essays. If you don’t see an old favorite of yours — like, for example, Mosaic — it may be because the publication is temporarily on […]

November 5, 2003

African-American

Obsidian III: Literature in the African Diaspora

Obsidian III: Literature in the African Diaspora• Affiliated with North Carolina State University• Dr. Joyce Pettis, ed.When Dr. Joyce Pettis took up the reins at Obsidian III in 2002, she was well aware that she was walking along a path trod by literary giants.There was Alvin Aubert, the poet pioneer — one of the first African American […]

November 5, 2003

African-American

WarpLand: A Journal of Black Literature and Ideas

WarpLand: A Journal of Black Literature and Ideas•Published by the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing, Chicago State University• Quraysh Ali Lansana, faculty adviser• Audrey Tolliver, senior editorWhen reached by telephone in his offices at Chicago State University’s Gwendolyn Brooks Center, Quraysh Ali Lansana, the poet and assistant professor of English who directs the […]

November 5, 2003

African-American

Black Renaissance/ Renaissance Noire

Black Renaissance/ Renaissance Noire• Edited and published by the Africana Studies Program and the Institute of African American Studies at New York University• Dr. Manthia Diawara, founder and editor in chief “I’m a child of African independence,” says Dr. Manthia Diawara, the Mali-born filmmaker and critic who’s also a professor of film and Africana studies at New […]

November 5, 2003

African-American

Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters

Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters • Published by the Johns Hopkins University PressDown in College Station, Texas, the Callaloo offices are gearing up for another whirlwind of activity. For an upcoming issue on the arts and history of the Afro-Mestizos of Veracruz, Dr. Charles Rowell has an international launch planned: The […]

November 5, 2003

African-American

Writers’ Retreat

Writers’ RetreatDespite the proliferation of Black authors and titles in today’s marketplace, many look to literary journals to carry on the torch for the written wordBy Kendra HamiltonImagine the African American writer as an endangered species. Impossible, you might say — not with Oprah’s smile selling magazines and books by the millions; not with bookstore […]

November 5, 2003

African-American

Fielding’s Media Psychology Program Welcomes Its First Class

Fielding’s Media Psychology Program Welcomes Its First ClassSANTA BARBARA, Calif.Fielding Graduate Institute welcomed its first class of students this fall in the school’s newly created Ph.D. program in Media Psychology. The students are all mid-career professionals from organizations as different as Disney, Gateway Computers and Stanford Medical Center. They will continue to work in their […]

November 5, 2003

African-American

UCLA Renames Center to Honor Ralph Bunche

UCLA Renames Center to Honor Ralph BuncheLOS ANGELESThe University of California Los Angeles honored one of its most distinguished alumni last month during a ceremony to rename its African American Studies center to the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies.“We could think of no more worthy individual after whom to name the center,” […]

November 5, 2003

African-American

Missing a Chapter

Missing a ChapterWhile we found your issue, “Harvard’s New Chapter in Black Studies” (see Black Issues, Oct. 9), to be informative, you failed to identify Michigan State University’s Ph.D. program in African American and African Studies (AAAS) on p.33 when listing African Studies programs. AAAS was established in February 2002 and welcomed its first class […]

November 5, 2003

Faculty & Staff

Revisiting Black History, Examining Future Paradigms

Revisiting Black History, Examining Future ParadigmsSoulstepping: african american step showsBy Dr. Elizabeth C. FineUniversity of Illinois Press, 2003, 208 pp., $24.95 cloth, ISBN 0-252-02475-3Soulstepping documents the history of stepping, which is defined as a complex performance that melds folk traditions with popular culture and involves synchronized percussive movement, singing, chanting and drama. The author traces […]

October 22, 2003

African-American

Sick and Tired of Health Disparities

Sick and Tired of Health Disparities A few months ago, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with an older sisterfriend, a retired teacher who fills her retired days with meetings, task forces and sorority work. I had always admired my friend for her spunk, her accomplishments and her standard of service. […]

October 22, 2003

African-American

A Welcome Increase

A Welcome Increase Outreach and diversity efforts appear to be paying off as some colleges and universities experience record minority student enrollments this fallBy Lydia LumAt a time when tuition is skyrocketing and many states are slashing higher education appropriations, Blacks and other students of color are enrolling at some of the nation’s colleges and […]

October 22, 2003

Faculty & Staff

Under the Media’s Radar

Under the Media’s RadarPrinceton’s program in African American studies boasts its own all-star cast High-profile African American studies departments like Harvard’s with certified media stars like Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. usually tend to grab the lion’s share of the headlines. But focusing solely on departments and their “stars” offers a pretty distorted picture of […]

October 8, 2003

Faculty & Staff

Harvard’s New Chapter in Black Studies

Harvard’s New Chapter in Black StudiesA neglected African studies program finally gets a departmental home By Ronald RoachFrom afar, it seemed that Afro-American studies at Harvard had taken a nasty tumble when two of its best-known scholars announced their resignations in early 2002, and its venerable chairman, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., let it be […]

October 8, 2003