African American students marching in a parade carrying banner.

African American Studies

The minor in African American Studies provides an interdisciplinary investigation of the experiences, conditions, origins, accomplishments, and contributions of people of African ancestry in the United States. Students may deepen their appreciation and understanding of African Americans by studying their earlier history in Africa, their transition to the New World, and their diasporic experiences in other parts of the world.

The African American Studies program is comprised of more than 20 courses offered through nearly 10 departments and programs within the USA College of Arts and Sciences. The minor in African American Studies takes advantage of those characteristics of the African American experience that make it uniquely valuable for serious academic study and teaching, for it exposes students to the diversity and unity of the African American experience as well as to the similarities and differences among the cultures of Africa.

 

Blacks & Jews: The Audacity of Standing Together

USA in West Africa: Dreams of Alabamians in West Africa Study Abroad (Maymester 2024)

Africatown Documentary Descendant from Dr. Kern Jackson

See the amazing work that Dr. Kern Jackson, director of the African American Studies Program, has been up to surrounding his co-writing and co-producing of the award-winning Africatown documentary Descendant, now streaming on Netflix!

https://www.southalabama.edu/departments/publicrelations/pressreleases/101922africatown.html

https://nmaahc.si.edu/events/through-african-american-lens-descendant

https://the1a.org/segments/the-documentary-descendant-unearths-americas-sunken-past/

Fall 2024 African American Studies Courses

  • African American Studies 101: Introduction to African American Studies (Dr. Kern Jackson)
  • Criminal Justice/Philosophy 331: Constitutional Law (Dr. Chris Galanos)
  • Gender Studies 301: Moving Beyond Diversity (Dr. Betty Trout-Kelly)
  • History 435: The Civil War and Reconstruction (Dr. Henry McKiven)
  • Interdisciplinary Studies 320: Cultural Competency (Dr. April Tashay Berry)
  • Psychology 270: The Psychology of Black Experience (Dr. Demetrius R. Smith)
  • Sociology 220: Marriage & the Family (Dr. Susan Yvette DeLoach)
  • Sociology 315: African American Families (Dr. Roma Hanks)
  • Sociology 435: Health Disparities & Life Span