'Left of Black': Episode #30 featuring Mark Naison

Left of Black #30 w/ Mark Naison
April 18, 2011

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Fordham University Historian and activist Mark Naison in a wide ranging discussion about growing up as a White American embracing Black culture, the emergence of Black Studies on predominately White college campuses, the Bronx African American History Project and his infamous appearance on Chappelle’s Show.

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→Mark Naison is a Professor of African-American Studies and History at Fordham University and Director of Fordham’s Urban Studies Program. He is the author of two books, Communists in Harlem During the Depression and White Boy: A Memoir. Naison is also co-director of the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP). Research from the BAAHP will be published in a forthcoming collection of oral histories Before the Fires: An Oral History of African American Life From the 1930’s to the 1960’s.

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Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

The Struggle for Black Studies at HBCUs

Of course black-studies programs flourish at historically black colleges and universities, right? Wrong.

The Struggle for Black Studies at HBCUs
by Aleesa Mann | The Root

Despite university budget cuts and a rise in anti-ethnic-studies sentiment, black-studies programs have held their ground in higher-education curricula. But while there has been substantial overall growth in the field during the last 40 years, it has happened primarily outside the community of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

"There's activity going on [at HBCUs]; it's just not as visible and as well supported as you might see at white institutions," says Dr. James Stewart, national president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Most HBCUs have established courses in black studies, but few have departments dedicated to the field, and only Howard and Clark Atlanta universities offer master's programs. Howard is also the only HBCU to offer a doctoral program in African studies, which is offered by eight traditionally white institutions.

The bottom line is money.

"A program in African-American studies is very difficult to sustain in good times, and it's near impossible in tough economic times," says Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. "However, some of the majority institutions have been able to get someone to underwrite less popular programs."

Dr. Mayibuye Monanabela, a professor in the Africana-studies department at the HBCU Tennessee State University, and one of the department's founders, points out that the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers bachelor's and master's degrees as well as a doctoral minor degree in black studies. "What black university does that?" he asks. "We have to do so much better. We should be leading the way."

Getting students to major in black studies is also difficult, according to Monanabela. "When students are ready to sign up for a major, they ask, 'What can I do with a degree in Africana studies?' " he says.

Read the Full Essay @ The Root

Remembering John Hope Franklin: Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Mark Anthony Neal

from The Root

John Hope, the Prince Who Refused the Kingdom
By Henry Louis Gates Jr.

For decades, John Hope Franklin railed against the often segregated academic field of 'black studies,' deriding it as intellectual Jim Crow. But there would be no black studies without him, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

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The Living Link That Expired
By Mark Anthony Neal

Black intellectuals remember the late John Hope Franklin, the courtly gentleman scholar who connected generations of black thought.