The late 1960s became iconic year for the emergence and development of Black Studies. The disciplines that illustrate the cruel and challenging history of people full of bravery and tension enhanced to be a part of the American higher education. Black Studies immersed in schools, colleges, universities, and more, and finally, at the end of 1971, the number of educational programs was aiming for the 1000 mark. That happened jointly to massive protests and activities in the fight for equal rights and possibilities (Anderson & Stewart, 2007). However, it is indispensable to figure out this issue in a more detailed way. The question about the circumstances that allow this development to appear means to be essential in the case of the international studies disciplines and the issue of social race communication and relations.
Africana Studies
Africana Studies appear as the structural way of exploring black people’s involvements and achievements in various fields and simply the history, religion, cultural identity issues, and more about black people. There is a notion that African Studies formally emerged in the mid-1950-s, but actually, that happened in the late 1960s, when for the first time rather huge number of black students were admitted in predominantly white educational establishments (Young et al., 2019). The establishment of Black studies in 1968 was a bit unexpected event to happen. Before that time, a solid amount of black academic expertise and endeavors existed, but it could hardly be found in college or university courses.
Civil Rights Impact
The 1960s in the USA is well-known as the time of massive social unrest when citizens, in rather a radical way, challenged the social norms and orders. This period has injected women’s rights, labor rights, and the civil rights movements (Vinen, 2018). The situation with Jack Weinberg, the student who played an essential role in the campaign for the freedom of speech, the example of Mario Savio, the poetic leader of the similar movement activity, the SDS- Students for Democratic Societies, and a lot more activities and events from that time influenced the question of black studies greatly (Vinen, 2018). They conducted the conferences, meetings where the current difficulties were discussed and figured out, the marches of support, the clubs, which illustrated their motivations and views. All these moves forced the educational facilities to take measures to correct the most major racial problems. The significant impact was performed by the African American Student Union AASU (West,2020), who proposed to evaluate the academic discipline called “Black studies.” Students spoke about the desire to receive realistic education and were disappointed with the information, which does not illustrate the honest and unbiased worldview. In following years, many black studies programs, departments, and scholarships were established across the country.
The Development of the Black Studies
The black students tended to participate in activities and felt responsible for the future success of the community. In 1968, at San Francisco State University, the student’s strike had happened (Anderson & Stewart, 2007). It caused for the Division of Ethnic Studies appearance, which included Black, Asian, Chicano, and Native studies departments. In that year, an important document about the justification for African American studies also appeared (Vinen, 2018). The departments were established along with the contentious atmosphere in educational facilities, which rejected the traditional content of educational programs. The structural academic curriculum should include the Afro-American history course and literature course. These courses should be substantive, implying additional plans to learn about sociology, political studies, psychology, and economic issues. The general support appeared after the Black Power movement when many black students entered preferably white universities, colleges, and schools (Anderson & Stewart, 2007). By 1970, around 700,000 black students were primarily taught in predominantly white educational facilities.
The Tendencies and the Critique
Even supposing that Black Studies as a particular discipline were delicate, its entrenchment as an additional direction in different social science aspects (e.g., education, sociology) has increased. Since the early 1980s, the growing interest in black men among scholars has led to notable growth in the sub-discipline of Black Male Studies. Currently, numerous manuals, scholar articles, meetings, research facilities and institutes, journals, and research teams assert or underline the prominence of Black researchers and specialists in the literary society. In current times, the scholar-activists are addressing the charge for changes due to police brutality, COVID-19 related health inequality, and other everyday controversial situations that again affected black people’s interests.
Conclusion
The Black Studies developed due to the solid social unrest, which became the response to the institutional racism in the American educational system. The students’ protests, the considerable number of initiatives with various aims and motivations, and other aspects of the Civil Rights Movement era emerged the Black Studies in the late 1960s. Black people did not feel themselves perspective and meaningful in educational issues but saw the inequality in campuses, educational facilities, and an academic environment. The organizations, the incidents, and the individuals forced the decision-makers in the system to figure out the obvious problems of missing perspectives for Black students and solve them as promptly as possible. Black students demanded to receive the education, which illustrates their history and speaks about their achievements to encourage and motivate them, feel proud, or draw on the life lessons.
References
Anderson, T. & Stewart, J. (2007). Introduction to African American Studies: Transdisciplinary Approaches and Implications.
Vinen, R. (2018). The Long ’68 Radical Protest and Its Enemies. Penguin Books Limited.
West, E. J. (2020). Ebony Magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr. Popular Black History in Postwar America. University of Illinois Press.
Young, A.A., Watts, J. G., Marable, M., Lemert, C.C. & Higginbotham, E. (2019). Souls of W.E.B. Du Bois. Taylor & Francis.