On Strike, Shut It Down: the Past, Present, and Future of Africana Studies

Abstract

This paper explores the history of Black Studies, which began as a result of student protest movements--spurred on by the student strike at San Francisco State College in 1968--and spread across the country to hundreds of colleges and universities. Black students everywhere sought control over their education, including at the Claremont Colleges, a small consortium of liberal arts colleges located in Southern California. The mobilization on behalf of Black students at the Claremont Colleges, and the subsequent administrative attempts to not only block the creation of a Black Studies department, but to delegitimize the department after its founding, tells a compelling, though seldom-known story about the character of Africana Studies. Uncovering this history through various archival documents helps to illustrate a path forward for the discipline, both at the Claremont Colleges and elsewhere. In particular, looking back to the past can help reorient towards a more radical, liberatory future by preparing students to center their academics around community organizing and Black freedom, just as Black students did in the 1960s.