About the African American Studies Department

Contact us at:

African American Studies Department
1 University Circle, Morgan Hall 232
Macomb, IL 61455
Phone: 309/298-1181 Fax: 309/298-2181
E-mail: aas@wiu.edu Website: www.wiu.edu/AAS/
Chair: Dr. Abdul-Rasheed Na'Allah, A-Naallah@wiu.edu

Vision and Mission

WIU's African American Studies Department will be counted, nationally and internationally, among the leading AAS departments in America and the world, and will produce graduates fully equipped to succeed in their future careers or graduate training endeavors, and who will be leaders in shaping our global society. It will be a department where teaching, research, and community outreach programs are at their highest standards.

In pursuance of its missions, the African American Studies Department strives to:

• offer courses that focus on both historical and cultural experiences of Black people in Africa and the Americas.
• collect and disseminate historical and current information that provides an accurate picture of the Black experience as well as aid in the understanding and appreciation of that experience.
• provide a body of knowledge that is an integral part of the general or liberal education of all students.
• supply students with analytical and problem solving skills that may be useful in dealing with problems confronting Black communities and the United States at large.
• facilitate interaction between faculty and students from different backgrounds and disciplines who share an interest in African American Studies.

African American Studies Department's strong and multidisciplinary faculty will promote excellence through outstanding teaching, research, student mentoring, study abroad, community outreach and public service. The department creates a rich scholarly environment on WIU campus and ensures that AAS faculty members attain excellent scholarly and academic growth and satisfaction in an atmosphere where all are happy to offer exceptional productivity so that WIU's African American Studies Department can attain its goal of becoming one of the finest in America.

The African American Studies Department offers students outstanding educational opportunities and help them to attain the best standard of learning and discipline in African American Studies. The Department ensures that students who go through it will continue to identify the department as their first department of choice for degree or minor programs and will remain great ambassadors of the department both inside and outside the University.

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History of African American Studies at WIU

Created in 1970, WIU's African American Studies joins similar departments at San Francisco State, Harvard, Massachusetts, and a handful of others around the nation, in upholding the proud record of being among the oldest African American Studies departments in America. The department helps WIU students in exploring the opportunity of the global century through its truly global Africana curriculum, study abroad, and dedicated intellectual contributions of a diverse faculty with research and teaching interest in local and international aspects of our discipline. WIU's African American Studies Department will remain a leader in attracting a diverse pool of excellent students to Western and in producing graduates ready to meet the challenges of the global world. The department has an interesting history, but one not much different from the developmental history of similarly pioneer African American Studies departments in the nation.

The WIU's African American Studies Department developed during a period of racial strife in America in general and Macomb in particular. This period corresponded with the first significant presence of blacks on campus. In response to student demands for a black curricular, several white instructors devised the first courses examining the black intellectual experience. English professor Norman Anderson headed this effort in 1969-1970. The African American Studies Program, then called the Negro Studies Program, came into existence at WIU in 1970, with Mr. Charles J. Evans as its first Director from 1970 to 1971. Dr. H.O. Ubamadu directed the program after Mr. Evans departure and supervised its achieving a department status. He served also as the department's first chair.

In 1974, under Dr. Ubamadu's leadership, the department offered a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in African American Studies. In 1985, the major in African American Studies was eliminated and the department downgraded into a program with a minor option. The department regained its department status in 1995, and Dr. Aaron Horne served as Acting Chair. Dr. Michael Cooke became Chair in August 1996. The department regained its major in 2003. The department currently offers three areas of concentration for its major, Humanities, Social Sciences, and General. It also teaches courses for Graduate credit and is in the process of proposing a graduate program in Africa and African Diaspora World Studies. The current department chair, Dr. Abdul-Rasheed Na'Allah, Associate Professor, came into office on July 1, 2004.

Other scholars who served at various times as chair or director of the department/program included: Gil Belles, Interim Department Chair, 1975-76; Dr. Essie Rutledge, Department Chair, 1976-1985; Dr. Abdi Sheik-Abdi, Director, 1985 - 1992. Between 1992 and 1995, various directors included Dr. John Q. Adams, Dr. Aaron Horne, Dr. Rutledge, and Dr. Carl Briscoe.

WIU's African American Studies Department has remained a leader in the production of well-rounded graduates ready to contribute in shaping our global world. Our department promotes the Western Illinois University's values of "Academic excellence, opportunity, social responsibility and personal growth."

African American Studies Department | College of Arts & Sciences
1 University Circle, Morgan Hall 232
Macomb, IL 61455
Phone: 309/298-1181 Fax: 309/298-2181
E-mail: aas@wiu.edu
WIU Homepage: www.wiu.edu