Georgetown University Department of African American Studies

This page is the official page of the Georgetown University Department of African American Studies. Board of Education commemoration in 2004.

In June of 2016, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to make African American Studies the newest Department in Georgetown College. Previously, African American Studies was an interdisciplinary program founded in 2003. Each semester, there are approximately twenty rigorous courses offered, taught by Georgetown's distinguished faculty, that satisfy the undergraduate curriculum requirements. Afr

ican American Studies sponsors and co-sponsors a number of academic events each year, contributing to the intellectual life and student life of the campus community. African American Studies sponsors regular colloquies for faculty, staff, and students interested in, working in, or minoring/majoring in African American Studies. Since 2003, the program has hosted at least one major lecture each year, with speakers including Dr. Lee Baker, anthropologist of Duke University; Dr. Ronald Walters, political scientist of the University of Maryland; Dr. Hortense Spillers, literary and cultural critic of Vanderbilt University, Dr. Paul Gilroy, cultural theorist and sociologist formerly of Yale University, Dr. Patricia Hill Collins, sociologist of the University of Maryland, Kenneth Mack, law professor of Harvard University's Law School, and Dr. L.H. Stallings, women's and gender studies professor of the University of Maryland. The program sponsored, in conjunction with the British Council, the Lannan Programs, and the GU Humanities Initiative, an annual Black British writer in residency program. Additionally, the program has sponsored and co-sponsored a number of classroom speakers during the academic year, with lectures of interest to mathematicians, economists, literary critics, historians, musicians, sociologists, anthropologists and political scientists. In 2006, the program convened a symposium on Black Women in the Civil Rights Movement, which aired live on C-SPAN, in addition to co-sponsoring the University's Brown v. The Department will continue in these traditions and looks forward to sponsoring programs that further the Department and University's mission. The Department of African American Studies is a vibrant and vital space for critical inquiry. A major or minor in African American Studies allows undergraduate students at Georgetown University to examine from numerous disciplinary perspectives the experiences and contributions of people of African descent in the United States. The major and minor afford students the opportunity to broaden their academic experience by studying the historical, cultural, economic, political, religious, literary, and social contributions and developments of African Americans. The major and minor's interdisciplinary methodology encourages students to make connections and think critically and creatively across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Through its rigorous academic offerings, the major and minor helps to prepare students for entry into an increasingly diverse work force and a society where diversity is a valuable resource.

Dayo F. Gore Named 2023 Freedom Scholar - College of Arts & Sciences

09/27/2023

A big congratulations to Dr. Dayo F. Gore for being named a 2023 Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey Foundation!

Dayo F. Gore Named 2023 Freedom Scholar - College of Arts & Sciences Dayo F. Gore, an associate professor in the Department of African American Studies, has been named a 2023 Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey Foundation

04/19/2023

Congratulations to Dr. Soyica Colbert and Dr. Anita Gonzalez!

In recognition of her work in Theater and Performance Studies, Dr. Soyica Colbert has won the 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship Award. This prestigious fellowship is awarded on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise. She joins a diverse group of 171 exceptional individuals chosen from a rigorous application and peer review process out of almost 2,500 applicants from various fields and disciplines.

In recognition of her contributions to Theater and Performance Studies, Dr. Anita Gonzalez has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This accomplishment places her in the company of some of the country's most innovators in multiple fields and professions, including more than two hundred and fifty Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners.

New Members Elected in 2023

02/22/2023

Tomorrow!
The Department of African American Studies presents:

The Ella Jo Baker Distinguished Lecture featuring Loretta J. Ross
"Calling In for Human Rights and Democracy"
Thursday, February 23rd | 5:30PM - 7:00PM
Georgetown University, ICC Auditorium

01/25/2023

The Department of African American Studies is excited to invite you to our Spring 2023 Ella Jo Baker Distinguished Lecture event featuring, Loretta J. Ross.

"Calling In for Human Rights and Democracy"
Thursday, February 23rd | 5:30PM - 7:00PM
Georgetown University, ICC Auditorium

11/08/2022

This week!
A Book Talk and Conversation with Dr. Sara Clarke Kaplan
The Black Reproductive: Unfree Labor and Insurgent Motherhood

Thursday, November 10th
4pm - 6pm EST
Murray Room (5th floor of Lauinger Library)

"Convening Black literary and cultural studies with feminist and q***r theory," Clarke Kaplan's study charts "how Black reproduction became integral to white supremacy, capitalism and heteropatriarchy - and remains key to their dismantling."

Kaplan is an Associate Professor and Executive Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Institute at American University.

07/20/2022

A big congratulations to Dr. Soyica Colbert for winning the Association of Theater in Higher Education (ATHE) Outstanding Book Award! ATHE is the largest organization of Theater in Higher Ed and the Outstanding Book Award is the highest honor awarded to a book.

ATHE - 2022 Outstanding Book Awardees - Association for Theatre in Higher Education ATHE’s Award for Outstanding Book is given on the basis of the study's potential to interrupt, change and/or challenge theatre practice and pedagogy—often emphasizing the interconnectedness of pedagogy and practice.

04/25/2022

The virtual book talk for Dr. LaMonda Horton-Stallings' new book, The Afterlives of Kathleen Collins: A Black Woman Filmmaker's Search for New Life, is this Thursday!

Book Talk: The Afterlives of Kathleen Collins: A Black Woman Filmmaker's Search for New Life by L.H. Stallings
Thursday, April 28, 2022 | 6:00pm-7:00pm EST
Virtual Event | Zoom Link: https://georgetown.zoom.us/j/92587159822

Author L.H. Stallings will discuss her new book about black filmmaker pioneer Kathleen Collins with panelists Amy Ongiri and Robert Patterson. Event will be closed-captioned.

Participants
Dr. Amy Ongiri, Director and Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of Portland
Dr. Robert Patterson, Chair and Professor of African American Studies
Dr. LaMonda Horton-Stallings, Professor of African American Studies

04/04/2022

The department is excited to host a virtual book talk for Dr. LaMonda Horton-Stallings' new book, The Afterlives of Kathleen Collins: A Black Woman Filmmaker's Search for New Life. Please save the date and see below for the event details!

Book Talk: The Afterlives of Kathleen Collins: A Black Woman Filmmaker's Search for New Life by L.H. Stallings
Thursday, April 28, 2022 | 6:00pm-7:00pm EST

03/14/2022

The Department of African American Studies is hosting an event tomorrow with Dr. Melvin L. Butler:

"Performing Transcendence: Improvisation, Instrumentality, and the Cultural Politics of Flow in Black Sacred Music"

Tuesday, March 15th | 4:00pm - 5:30pm
McGhee Library (ICC 3rd floor)

Throughout the African diaspora, music is a source of cultural and spiritual affirmation. Black musical genres such as jazz and gospel, along with their symbolic and physical ”instruments,” are tied to longstanding discourses of cultural belonging, racial authenticity, and spiritual value. In this talk, Dr. Melvin L. Butler posits music as a creative yet controversial resource for performers and practitioners who strive either to maintain the sanctity or celebrate the fluidity of their traditions. For jazz artists, improvisation is often a technology of transcendence—a vital strategy for crossing experiential boundaries and accessing an “extraordinary” realm of spiritual inspiration. In the context of Black Pentecostal Christianity, music nurtures feelings of collective distinctiveness that are reinforced through ecstatic worship, ritualized nostalgia, and conceptual oppositions between the Church and the wider "world." These dichotomies are destabilized via the appropriation of musical styles that travel across conventional lines of sacred and secular demarcation. This talk thus highlights the cultural politics of musical flow at the crossroads of local and global practice.

02/09/2022

Event Reminder:
The Spring 2022 Ella Jo Baker Distinguished Speaker event with Mariame Kaba is tomorrow!

"Safety and Its Illusions: PIC Abolition & Black Life in the United States"
Thursday, February 10th | 6:00pm-7:30pm EST
Virtual Event | Zoom Link: https://georgetown.zoom.us/j/92906025387

Mariame Kaba's talk will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Dr. Zandria F. Robinson, Associate Professor of African American Studies at Georgetown University.

01/28/2022

The Department of African American Studies is excited to invite you to our Spring 2022 Ella Jo Baker Distinguished Speaker event with Mariame Kaba.

"Safety and Its Illusions: PIC Abolition & Black Life in the United States"
Thursday, February 10th | 6:00pm-7:30pm EST
Virtual Event | Zoom Link: https://georgetown.zoom.us/j/92906025387

Mariame Kaba's talk will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Dr. Zandria F. Robinson, Associate Professor of African American Studies at Georgetown University.

06/18/2021

#102 Joseph Hayne Rainey was an American politician known for being the first African American to serve in the United States House of Representative, as well as the second African American to serve in Congress!

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Website

http://africanamericanstudies.georgetown.edu/

Address

Georgetown University ICC 480
Washington D.C., DC
20057

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm