The African & African Diaspora at Boston College, originally called the Black Studies Program, began in 1969-1970 as a derivative
of Boston College’s “Black Talent Program”, an effort to
recruit talented Black students from across the country to study here. This
program
was a direct response to Father General Pedro Arupe’s 1968 letter to Jesuit
Colleges and universities on the “Inter-Racial Apostolate” and developed
from discussions begun in 1967 between BC President Michael Walsh, S.J. and
Boston community leaders, Mel King and Bryant Rollins.
The Black Studies Program was part of an academic initiative to bring more African American students to Boston College and to make the undergraduate curriculum more relevant to African-American students. With this effort Boston College became one of the first major universities in the United States to establish Black Studies as a permanent part of the academic curriculum.
In 1981 the program took a major step forward with the appointment of Amanda V. Houston, a dynamic teacher and Boston community activist as Director of Black Studies, a part-time but permanent position. It was Mrs. Houston who laid the groundwork for the Black Studies Minor which was established in 1985 and for much of the program as it exists today. While there is no formal Black Studies major, it is possible to do an Independent Major in Black Studies. The first such major graduated in 1990.
In 1983, the Black Studies Program along with the Museum of Afro-American History and the Boston Public Schools initiated the first in a successful series of “Blacks in Boston” conferences that examined the social, political, and cultural issues faced by the different ethnic groups and organizations that historically have made up the “Black” community in Boston. This and other outreach efforts helped develop closer connections between Boston College students and the Boston community.
In 1993, Prof. Frank Taylor, a tenured Associate Professor of Caribbean History became the first full time faculty member to assume the position of Director of Black Studies and began to develop an expanded focus on the Caribbean. The Blacks in Boston Conference in 1996 focused on Boston’s Afro-Caribbean connections and with Prof. Taylor’s encouragement students have made greater use of the O’Neill Library’s Williams Collection on Caribbean politics and culture.
Also in 1993, the university core requirements were revised to include one course designated “Cultural Diversity” for the entering class of 1997 and several of the Black Studies offerings fit easily under this rubric. Thus Black Studies courses began to enroll an even broader range of Boston College students from all four undergraduate schools.
In July 2005, Cynthia Young, Associate Professor in the Department of English, became the New Director of Black Studies. Her first book, entitled Soul Power: Culture, Radicalism and the Making of a U.S. Third World Left, Duke University Press, 2006, looks at how anticolonialism influenced the films, writing and union activism of people of color in the U.S. She is working to expand the minor's curricular offerings and network of affiliate faculty. In January 2006, the program was renamed the African and African Diaspora Studies Program to reflect the minor's expanded focus on Africa and African-descended peoples wherever they live and work.
Currently the Program offers over 40 courses each year in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences which enroll more than 1200 students. Its mission is to introduce the history, culture and experience of African Americans to the widest range of students, to support serious academic research on Black issues, to give African American students the opportunity to examine their heritage and experience in greater depth, and to link the Black community in Boston and their rich history more closely with Boston College, and to raise the profile of issues facing African Americans within the university community.