Africana Studies Program Began with Protest Movement

[image:1:left:30]]Professor Leonard Bethel is a founding faculty member of the Africana Studies department in the School of Arts and Sciences. Below he recounts the creation of the department which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

STUDENTS DEMANDED BLACK STUDIES

Q: What was the racial climate like on campus in the 1960s?

A: In the 1960s black students felt alienated on campus. They didn't think they were going to survive. Students would address their concerns with deans but the administration was unresponsive. It was through protesting that the black student body was heard.


Q: What specific tactics did the black student population use to break through the barriers on campus?

A: On all three campuses a series of coordinated protests occurred in 1968 and 1969. Some of the more memorable events on the New Brunswick Campus included a stirring speech by alumnus Randall Green and black students simultaneously turning over their meal trays in protest during lunch.


Q: What did black students hope to accomplish through resistance?

A: In March 1969, a list of demands was presented to Rutgers faculty. The call for action required the administration to hire

Q: What were the results from the list of demands?

A: After the demands were presented, the university Board of Governors resolved to "establish a new and pioneering program by September 1969." The result was the Urban University Program and the Transitional Year Program, the beginnings of what we know as the Africana Studies Department.

The Urban University Program and the Transitional Year Program were established to recruit and retain black students at Rutgers. It was these students, more than 300 from urban areas, that populated the first intro courses of the black studies program that begun.

A FRAGMENTED BEGINNING

Q: What was the black studies program like in its early phase?

A: The Urban University Program and the Transitional Year Program morphed into the Afro-American Program at Rutgers, Douglass and Livingston Colleges.

Due to the organizational structure at Rutgers, the black studies program was taught at each undergraduate college with a different perspective.

Q: In what ways did the programs differ?

A: The program at Livingston had an urban mission which focused on the current political movements of the time as well as an emphasis on African languages – mainly Hausa and Swahili.

The curriculum at Douglass was centered on the humanities.

The focus at Rutgers College was on the social sciences – psychology, philosophy, anthropology and so on. For example, at Rutgers College there were classes like the “African American Experience” and “the Black Woman and Identity.”

AFRICANA STUDIES TODAY

Q: How has the program evolved since the various organizational changes at Rutgers?

A: After the creation of the Rutgers Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the black studies programs at Livingston, Douglass and Rutgers Colleges were fused together creating the Department of Africana Studies. Beginning in the 1980s and continuing today, the department shifted its focus to the African diaspora while still incorporating the urban mission, humanities and social sciences emphases of the past.

Q: What should students who are considering majoring in Africana Studies know?

A: Since the 1990s, the department has had a multidisciplinary approach to teaching. Students are exposed to Africana Studies from the perspectives of law, psychology, political science, anthropology and media. The goal is to equip students with the skills needed to help them focus on a career.

Professor Bethel has held the position of chair of the Africana Studies Department for 15 years collectively. Read his full account of the creation of the Department of Africana Studies on the New Brunswick Campus.