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African American studies, or Black studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans. Taken broadly, the field studies not only the cultures of people of African descent in the United States, but the cultures of the entire African diaspora, from the British Isles to the Caribbean. The field includes scholars of African American literature , history, politics, religion and religious studies, sociology, and many other disciplines within the humanities and social sciences.Departments of African American studies were first created in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of student and faculty activism at many universities. The creation of programs and departments in Black studies was a common demand of protests and sit-inA sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more persons nonviolently occupying an area for protest, often political, social, or economic change. Sit-ins were first employed by Mahatma Gandhi in Indian independence movement and wes by minority students and their allies, who felt that their cultures and interests were underserved by the traditional academic structures.
Scholars in African American studies
Well-known authors in the field include:
- Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Angela Y. Davis
- W. E. B. DuBoisWilliam Edward Burghardt DuBois ( February 23, 1868 August 27, 1963) was an African-American civil rights leader and scholar. Life DuBois (pronounced Dew Boys was born in the village of Great Barrington, Massachusetts to Alfred and Mary DuBois. After grad
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Henry Louis Gates Jr. born September 16, 1950) is an educator, scholar, literary critic, writer, and the chair of Harvard's Afro-American Studies program. Gates earned a BA summa cum laude from Yale and a Ph. in English from Clare College, Cambridge Unive
- bell hooksbell hooks born September 25, 1952, is a U. Black feminist social critic best known for her critique of, and strategy against, what she terms " white supremacist capitalist patriarchy". She is currently Distinguished Professor of English at City College i
- Cornel WestCornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is a prominent American scholar and public intellectual. Formerly at Harvard, West is currently a professor of Religion and African American studies at Princeton University. West's unique intellect
African American cultureAfrican American culture is both part of and distinct from American culture. From their earliest presence in North America, Africans and African Americans have contributed literature, art, agricultural skills, foods, clothing styles, music, and language t
