Africana Studies Program hosts events for 40th anniversary

The Africana Studies Program is celebrating its 40th anniversary this semester with a series of events to commemorate its founding, including speeches and discussions led by distinguished scholars in the field from across the country.

"After all of the work that went into this, I would like to stand back and watch everything go perfectly," said Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies and Director of the Africana Studies Program Ismail Rashid.

The first lecture in the series will take place on Thursday, Feb. 5, when Rutgers University School of Law Professor Imani Perry will deliver a lecture entitled "Politics and Poetics in Hip-Hop." Other events will include a performance of the play "Time In," written by formerly incarcerated women, on Feb. 14 and the Africana Studies Green Haven Prison Program 30th Anniversary Conference on April 4.

Rashid is especially looking forward to the event entitled 40 Years at Vassar, the climax of the anniversary celebration. This three-day event, from April 17 to 19, will feature lectures and panel discussions led by members of the Vassar faculty as well as outside scholars.

As part of this event, Randall Robinson of Harvard University Law School will deliver the keynote address and 2009 Matthew Vassar Lecture on April 18. Robinson is the founder of TransAfrica Forum, a nonprofit organization that fights for social justice in Africa and works to unite African descendents across the world.

According to Rashid, the panel discussions that are part of the 40 Years at Vassar event will probably be the most interesting to students of all majors.

The Africana Studies Program was the first interdisciplinary major offered at Vassar, which is reflected in the wide variety of events at its anniversary celebration. According to Summer's-Grace Green '09, one of the Africana Studies Program's Academic Interns, many of the Program's majors chose it because of the many perspectives that it offers. "I think many of our majors choose Africana for similar reasons: its relevance in shaping current society, its ability to make us critically examine our world across many different spectrums, and because it's interesting and fun," she wrote in an e-mailed statement.

The Africana Studies Program was created amid controversy. It was founded after 34 African-American students took over Main Building from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, 1969, demanding that attention be paid to the achievements and history of Africans and African-Americans. "There were not enough courses on the black experience," said Rashid.
Ilena Robbins '09, a member of the Africana Studies Majors Committee, said that the events should help educate the student body about black history at Vassar. Robbins said that she is looking forward to the upcoming art installation in the College Center, entitled Recreating the Events of 1969.

"I can't wait to hear people talk about it. Very few students know the history of Vassar College and they don't know what the sit-in was about. Just yesterday my roommate asked me what Kendrick House [a former black dormitory] was as we drove by."

At the time of the takeover, Claudia Lynn Thomas '71 was the President of the Students' Afro-American Society. As she recalls in her essay "Takeover of Main Building, 1969," published in the Vassar Encyclopedia, "There was one lone African-American professor...There was no evidence, inside or outside the classroom, of the contributions of African-Americans. Our history was, in large measure, omitted from the curriculum."

According to Thomas, one professor had openly stated that Vassar's black students were to be an "‘educational experience' for white students." Some black students were treated unfairly by their house fellows, essentially being blamed for the racism directed against them. For this reason, black students requested the creation of a black dorm, Kendrick House, in 1971, located across the street from Main Gate. The dormitory was home to the entire black population and to one white student, so that the living arrangements were not entirely segregated.

After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, the administration agreed to create what was then called a Black Studies Program, and founded the Urban Center for Black Studies in Poughkeepsie's African-American community.

However, the Black Studies Program did not offer a major, so a delegation of African-American students met with the administration to express their grievances. Their request was rejected.

After the official channels failed, 34 black students on campus decided to barricade themselves in Main Building. In her essay, Thomas wrote that the raid was organized by a student named Gloria who was a member of the Class of 1972.

"We will occupy only the first floor. We've studied all the doors with strict attention to what it will take to barricade each one," said Gloria in Thomas' essay, "Wear dark clothes and sneakers. If you have any canned foods or drinks, bring them with you. There's no telling how long we'll be in there."

Eventually, the students succeeded in taking over the building, with the help of many staff members, such as the switchboard operator. This act of protest helped draw attention to the black students' cause, leading the Board of Trustees to establish a committee to evaluate the education of minority students, bringing about the formation of what is now the Africana Studies Program.