June Newsletter
The June 2008 Newsletter is now available.
The June 2008 Newsletter is now available.
Please click here to view the April Newsletter in pdf format.
The April 2008 Legacy Newsletter has been released. Note that the newsletter currently only exists as a Microsoft Publisher file. A pdf version will be posted soon for those who do not have access to MS Publisher.
Here is the tentative outline of "We Still Have a Charge to Keep," a series of events to be held throughout 2009.
In the 2008 Givens Foundation NOMMO series, AA&AS professor Alexs Pate interviews and moderates discussions with prominent African American literary figures. In our African Diaspora series our faculty will interview and moderate discussions with prominent scholars about rethinking and redeploying understandings of the African Diaspora:
Several prominent members of the Twin Cities African American and African communities are widely known and praised as intellectual leaders, even though they might not have formal college educations. Professor Rose Brewer will moderate a series of events held at various community sites where these organic intellectuals will debate ideas and possible solutions to pressing socioeconomic issues with AA&AS faculty and other community members.
In 2007, the magazine n+1 published a pamphlet, What We Should Have Known: Two Discussions, that contains transcriptions of two conversations among authors discussing books they should have read in college. Professors John Wright and Alexs Pate will convene two panel discussions (of academics, authors, and community educators) to generate two lists of books that African Americans should read. One list will be for children, the other for adults.
Documentaries about African and African American experiences will be purchased and screened in monthly sessions that will include a panel discussion of faculty, students, and artists. Professor John Wright will moderate this series.
The January conference will contain at least one student event (a panel of students discussing Nerve Juice, a memoir about the Morrill Hall takeover) and one event for members of the community. After the conference at least one additional student event will be scheduled in the Black Student Union, to which the public will be invited.
A play will be commissioned and performed about the history and evolution of African American & African studies at the University of Minnesota. The play might be modeled on Peace Crimes: The Minnesota 8 vs. The War.
Public art will be purchased and installed. One possible piece might be “Walking Warrior I,” created by sculptor Melvin Smith, who was a student in 1969. Another option might be painting a mural on the 8th floor of the Social Sciences Tower (home to the Department of African American & African Studies).
AA&AS has added a new page to the department website: AA&AS Celebrates 40 Years. Also, the Make a Gift page has been updated to reflect upcoming 40th Anniversary priorities.
On Friday, March 28, Professor Michael Omi (University of California-Berkeley) will present "It Just Ain't the Sixties No More: The Problems and Promise of Comparative Ethnic Studies." This lecture will be held from 3:00-5:00 in CSOM 2-260Z.
Minnesota Public Radio's website has an interesting multimedia story about the legacy of the Morrill Hall Takeover.
In April of 2006 veterans of the Morrill Hall Takeover held a reunion and summit. The Morrill Hall Takeover led to the formation of the Department of African American & African Studies in 1969. Many of these pioneers are involved in the department's 2009 40th Anniversary celebration.
Welcome to the AA&AS 40th Anniversary blog. News and information about the department's 2009 40th Annivesary will be posted here. Please feel free to leave comments!