Black Studies

This article discusses the concept of African American studies and describes Black studies as a critical body over time that has dismantled powerful racist intellectual and white supremacy. Included are views from a variety of African Americans defining “Black studies,” describing the history, and politics of influential people involved in the development of the Black studies programs. This includes background information regarding the history of American Africans and “Black studies, “Black life, and experiences from the point of view of Black people over the past century. According to Marable (2009), “behind the concept of African American studies is essentially the Black intellectual tradition, the critical thought and perspectives of intellectuals
Intellectual tradition has been prescriptive. [There is a practical connection between scholarship and struggle, between social analysis and social transformation.] The Black intellectual tradition questioned and challenged disciplinary boundaries from the beginning...” (p 20) Marable questions are:
• “Who produces knowledge, and what is the social utility of certain types of knowledge?
• Can knowledge be a form of private property, or should [private property] be freely disseminated? (p 20). ‘Thus, Black studies must also be an oppositional critique of the existing power arrangements and relations that are responsible for the systemic exploitation, of Black people, (p 21). St. Clair Drake articulated this perspective: To use a technical sociological term, the present’s body of knowledge has an ideological element in it, and is a counter [ideologies] needed Black Studies to supply that counter ideology, (p 21). According to Marable (2009), “The change in the racial composition of U.S. colleges was very dramatic.
• 1950 – only 75,000 Negroes were enrolled in American colleges and universities
• 1960 – three fourths of all Black students attended historically Black colleges.
• 1970 – nearly 700,000 African Americans were enrolled, three-fourths were at white
The article draws primarily from scholarly works in theory and ideology from a variety of African American scholars. Marable uses the research of these scholars to describe Black studies Black life, and experiences from the point of view of Black people over the past century. He incorporates political ideology, conflict and politics from scholarly authors to provide an accurate account of Black studies history and traditions. The article has very good research information and a plethora of scholars to support Marble’s argument on the history and development of Black studies programs through the century. This makes the article very credible. The author sums the article up, by saying, “Now a quarter century later, to paraphrase Martin [Luther King], however, “Where do we go from here?” “…Within the academic and political mainstream, we have lost our way, (p 34). Thee important ideas that came to me from reading this article are:
• The racial mountain symbolizes the history of African American studies and struggles African American faced over the past