By Kathryn Morgan, Ph.D., Professor of Criminal Justice and Director of the African American Studies Program
The UAB African American Studies Program will celebrate its 20th anniversary on April 28, 2020. The program was approved as a degree-granting program by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education on April 28, 2000.
At the time of its inception, the UAB African American Studies Program was the only one of its kind in the Southeast and is still only one of two degree-granting African American Studies (AAS) programs in Alabama. In the 1970s, Dr. Horace Huntley taught the first Black History courses at UAB, and in the 1990s, Dr. Virginia Whatley Smith worked diligently to implement the first organized African American Studies Program. When it was approved as a program on April 28, 2000, Smith was appointed as the first Director.
Coker AdeniyiAfter Smith left the University, Dr. Niyi Coker, associate professor of Theater, was named program director. Under Coker’s leadership, the program grew in size and visibility. During his tenure as director, he explored the possibility of a shared AAS program with the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.
When Coker left in 2005 to accept a Distinguished Professorship at the University of Missouri, Dr. Dellita Ogunsula became interim director and continued to pursue this endeavor. Leaders of both the UAB and UA African American Studies programs envisioned that a shared program would be advantageous to the University of Alabama System. The vision of the program was to implement a unique shared course of study that led to the completion of a Bachelor of Arts degree in African American Studies at both universities. In 2009, the joint UAB-UA program was approved by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE). After meeting several post-implementation conditions, the shared program was re-accredited by ACHE in 2014-2015.
Dellita OgunsulaSince 2005, Dr. Dellita Ogunsula, Dr. Jacqueline Wood, and Dr. George Munchus served as interim program directors and made significant contributions to the advancement of the program. Dr. Kay Morgan was appointed as program director in 2013.
After graduating its first student, Angela Craig, with a BA in AAS in 2001, the AAS program has established itself as a program committed to producing scholars and citizens who are equipped to effectively, critically, and actively engage the world and create positive change. Graduates of the program today reflect the remarkable opportunities afforded by completing a BA in African American Studies. Program graduates have gone on to excel in careers in many fields including social and behavioral sciences, medicine, education, and engineering.
Twenty years after its launch, the UAB African American Studies Program continues to walk in the spirit of the black intellectual tradition. Dedicated to the critical study of the lived experiences, culture, and history of people in Africa and the African diaspora, it offers a major and minor, and students are able to choose from one of three areas of interest: Global Public Health and Social Justice, Historical Investigation and Social Awareness, and History and Culture of Afro-Caribbean and Latino People.
Kathryn MorganThe AAS program, while focusing on the experience of African-descended people in the United States, has also provided a critical understanding of the cultural, historical, and social value and experiences of people of African descent across the African diaspora. Unlike other programs, the program’s focus is anchored in, but not limited to, history and the social and behavioral sciences. Students in this program receive a well-rounded, coherent body of knowledge that expands their fields of knowledge by including courses in public health, music, literature, and language. Students in the program develop their critical thinking skills and enhance their reading, writing, and public speaking skills, allowing them to engage in critical discourse concerning people of African descent. Students in the program are better prepared to enter various fields such as medicine, education, law, non-profit sector, arts, and public health because of their interdisciplinary training. And the AAS program’s location in Alabama, which holds a significant place in American history, underscores the importance of its presence in and contribution to the University.
This fall, the program hopes to host several celebrations to honor the students, faculty, and staff who have helped the program develop and thrive at UAB.
