African American studies, or Black studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans. Taken broadly, the field studies not only the cultures of people of African descent in the United States, but the cultures of the entire African diaspora, from the British Isles to the Caribbean. The field includes scholars of African American literature, history, politics, religion and religious studies, sociology, and many other disciplines within the humanities and social sciences.

Departments of African American studies were first created in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of student and faculty activism at many universities, sparked by a five months strike for black studies at San Francisco State. In February of 1968, San Francisco State hired sociologist Nathan Hare to coordinate the first black studies program and write a proposal for the first Department of Black Studies; the department was created in September 1968 and gained official status at the end of the five-months strike in the spring of 1969. The creation of programs and departments in Black studies was a common demand of protests and sit-ins by minority students and their allies, who felt that their cultures and interests were underserved by the traditional academic structures. Numerous institutions now offer the degree, including Brown University, University of Michigan, Princeton University, the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, Northwestern University, and University of Cincinnati.

Scholars in African American studies

---

Well-known authors in the field include:

• Kwame Anthony Appiah
• Molefi Kete Asante
• Angela Y. Davis
• W. E. B. DuBois
• Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
• bell hooks
• Dwight A. McBride
• Manning Marable
• Cornel West
• Maulana Karenga
• Patricia Hill Collins

African American culture | Ethnic Studies

Doctoral Programs in African American Studies

---

There are currently seven American univerisities that offer doctoral degrees (Ph.D.) in African American Studies: Northwestern University, Harvard University, Yale University, Temple University, University of Massachusetts, University of California-Berkeley, and Michigan State University. Each of these programs differ in terms of their approach to the field (curriculum, philosophy, and faculty). Harvard and Yale University's program emphasize dual training in a recognized, "traditional" discipline such as English, History, or Sociology. The University of California-Berkeley's program confers a doctoral degree in African Diaspora Studies, rather than African American Studies. This program emphasizes doctoral research that is both comparative and diasporic in nature. The University of Massachusetts' program trains students in two "tracks": literary and cultural studies and history, whereas Michigan State's department focuses exclusively on comparative black history. Temple University's program differs from all other doctoral programs in the field because of its specific focus on afrocentric ideologies and methodologies. Northwestern University's program, which was inaugurated in 2006, also emphasizes training in a "traditional" discipline, but distinguishes itself from Harvard and Yale's programs because of its heightened focus on gender and sexuality.