SPOTLIGHT
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The Fall 2011 issue of The Black Scholar features four articles on print culture and local movements that were originally presented at the Du Bois Department's 2010 conference "Art & Power in Movement." |
Du Bois Department Senior in the Spotlight...
Justin McCarthy ’12, an Afro-American studies major tells us about how hip hop shaped his life and Afro-American studies changed the way he thinks about the world. See his HFA Student Profile by clicking here
ALUMNI NEWS
Dr. Trimiko Melancon ('05), Assistant Professor of English and African & African American Studies at Loyola University, has been awarded a prestigious 2012 Woodrow Wilson National Foundation fellowship for next academic year. During this time, she will complete the final revisions of her first book "Unbought and Unbossed: Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and the Politics of Representation." Additionally, she will be working on her second book project, "You People: Race and the Global Politics of Exclusion from Katrina to Berlin," from which she presented at the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies "Fire Next Time" Colloquium Series in October 2011. An article based on her presentation has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Popular Culture entitled "Reading Race and the Difference It Makes: (Post) 9/11, Black Performance, and Cultural Production." See here for details.
New Book Publications!! An Army of Lions: The Civil Rights Struggle Before the NAACPby Shawn Leigh Alexander ('04)
408 pages | 6 x 9 | 22 illus. Cloth 2011 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4375-8 | $49.95 | £32.50
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"An Army of Lions is a stunning and heroic work of research about one of the great 'origins' stories of American history. With remarkable originality, Alexander illuminates the grassroots civil rights organizations, leadership, and strategies in the nineteenth century, well before we typically think about those efforts."--David W. Blight |
Recent books by other Du Bois Department alum The Politics of Paul Robeson's Othello (University of Press of Mississippi, 2010), by Lindsey R. Swindall ('07)
Black Power at Work: Community Control, Affirmative Action, and the Construction Industry (Cornell University Press, 2010), by David Goldberg ('06) and Trevor Griffey, eds. |
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Call for Papers, Panels & Posters Clark Atlanta University History Department Website: http://www.cau.edu/Academics_History_Main.aspx |
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Other recent titles by our graduates include Christopher Lehman’s The Colored Cartoon: Black Representation in American Animated Short Films, a Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2008, A Critical History of Soul Train on Television, and American Animated Cartoons of the Vietnam Era; Stephanie Y. Evans' Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 1850-1954: An Intellectual History, and African Americans and Community Engagement; Jennifer Jensen Wallach's Richard Wright: From Black Boy to World Citizen and Closer to the Truth than Any Fact: Memoir, Memory, and Jim Crow, also a Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2008; and Shawn Alexander's anthology T. Thomas Fortune, the Afro-American Agitator. Congratulations to all our former students adding to the body of published scholarship on the African American experience.
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DEPARTMENT NEWS
Afro-American Studies professor Steven C. Tracy has been awarded the Chu Tian Scholar Fellowship Award ("The Sky of Chu Kingdom Award") by the Hubei Provincial Department of Education in China and officially named Lecture Professor of the Chu Tian Program.
See full article at In the Loop.
On a recent trip to Beijing, Professor Tracy visited the Olympic Village and the swimming pool complex. He then went back to Wuhan for a poetry conference, where he performed on harmonica and vocals “Amazing Grace” and “Going Down to the Graveyard” at an international poetry reading and showcase for Central China Normal University’s music department, and offered a keynote address.
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BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez
A new documentary—now in production by Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, with Sabrina Schmidt Gordon
BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, a one-hour documentary, will examine her contribution to the world of poetry, her singular place in the Black Arts Movement and her leadership role in African American culture over the last half century. Despite her achievements, there is—as yet—no major film documenting her life and the impact of her work. Supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Leeway Foundation, The Philadelphia Foundation and the Lomax Family Foundation, this Attie & Goldwater Production will give Sister Sonia her due with our own John Bracey serving as both a talking head in the film and a member of the film's advisory board. Click tease to see the movie's advanced trailer.
Also, on December 29th, 2011 Professor John Bracey was in Philadelphia to attend the naming of Sonia Sanchez as that city's first Poet Laureate. Mayor Michael Nutter presided over the ceremony held at City Hall. As part of her acceptance speech Sanchez read a poem she had written in 1994 upon the occasion of the visit to Philadelphia of Vaclav Havel, recently deceased first President of the Czech Republic and a playwright. Sanchez' term as Poet Laureate runs for two years ,and plans are underway for a number of initiatives promoting poetry and the arts throughout the city. Sonia Sanchez's appointment was met with universal acclaim, confirming the widely held view that Sanchez had been the de facto poet laureate of Philadelphia for some time ,and that the Mayor Nutter just made it official. See articles in the Philadelphia Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Phildelphia Inquirer Editorial and other photos (pdf).
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MR issue features plenary session papers from 2010 Art & Power in Movement Conference
The new issue of the Massachusetts Review is out and it features presentations from a plenary session on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) held during last November's 40th Anniversary of the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. Professor Emeritus Ekwueme Michael Thelwell introduces us to fellow SNCC activists Charles E. Cobb, Jr. and Judy Richardson, and to a period that "not only fundamentally challenged the culture and architecture of injustice in the south, but laid the groundwork for a new pedagogy of social justice on campuses like our own."
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Congratulations to Professors Steve Tracy and James Smethurst on the publication of their newest books:
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| Professor Steven Tracy's newest book has now been published. Writers of the Black Chicago Renaissance comprehensively explores the contours and content of the Black Chicago Renaissance, a creative movement that emerged from the crucible of rigid segregation in Chicago's "Black Belt" from the 1930s through the 1960s. | Roark Bradford's 1931 novel and 1939 play dealing with the legendary folk-hero John Henry (both titled John Henry) were extremely influential in their own time, but have since then been nearly forgotten. Steven C. Tracy has united these hard-to-find works in a single critical edition that helps contextualize-and revive-both texts. Click cover for more information... |
The African American Roots of Modernism explores how the Jim Crow system triggered significant artistic and intellectual responses from African American writers, deeply marking the beginnings of literary modernism and, ultimately, notions of American modernity. Click cover for more information.. |
We're in the news all over the place: See the UMass Amherst magazine for John Sippel's feature story on the department. See also "UMass Doctoral Programs on the Rise, Earn Distinction as Among the Nation's Best in NRC Rankings" as well as the Daily Collegian article "UMass doctoral program ranked among top-performing schools by National Research Council."
Here's the news on our PhD program:
The first detailed survey since 1995 of doctoral programs at the nation's research universities shows that the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is among the most highly ranked graduate programs in the country. The National Research Council (NRC) survey, released Sept. 28, 2010, emerged from data collected in 2005-06 on more than 5,000 doctoral programs in 62 fields at 212 colleges and universities, covering such characteristics as faculty publications, grants, and awards; student financial support, and employment outcomes; and program size, time to degree, and faculty composition. Measures of faculty and student diversity were also included. Their analysis assigned each doctoral program a range within which the program likely ranks, such as between first and third for Department in the Diversity ranking which "reflects gender balance, ethnic diversity, and the proportion of international students." The Department ranked in the top 10 nationwide. Du Bois Department chair Amilcar Shabazz noted,"We are very proud of our standing among our peers, and welcome NRC and other findings which lend additional validity to our own sense that we provide our students with teaching and research excellence, together with engaged social responsibility in developing human knowledge and social life in general." The NRC assessed 42 graduate programs in American Studies. In overall scholarly performance the Du Bois Department ranked in the top ten of doctoral programs in the field, at the top in terms of gender balance as well ethnic & international student diversity, and #6 in terms of student performance and experience. See for yourself through the independent guide PhDs.org and the Chronicle of Higher Education synopsis at http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124700/.
STUDENT NEWS
Dissertation Defenses in 2012 Ernest Gibson's “In Search of the Fraternal:
Monday, April 9th 2:30 p.m. Room 2601, W.E.B. Du Bois Library |
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Our doctoral student, Ernest Gibson, III, made it onto the 2011 Boston Lizard Lounge National Poetry Slam Team. The team will be competing at the National Poetry Slam, an annual poetry slam championship tournament against teams from all over North America and Europe that will take place August 8-13th in Boston, Massachusetts.
Click here for more from Boston Globe story...
Markeysha Davis of the Afro-American Studies Department and Rickey Fayne of Northwestern University have been named winners of Du Bois fellowships to assist younger scholars in conducting research in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) in the Du Bois Library. Go to In the Loop for more...
Ernest Gibson, III, made it onto the 2011 Boston Lizard Lounge National Poetry Slam Team. Nationals is in August and will feature teams from all across the world congregating to compete for the National Slam title. The Lizard Lounge's website: http://poetryjam.org/slam/. And the official website for the national comp: http://nps2011.com/. Check back here for upcoming competitions. Good luck Ernest!
Jonathan Fenderson, after two years as a Fellow at the The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies [http://news.clas.virginia.edu/woodson/x16454.xml], University of Virginia, has successfully defended his dissertation "Journey Toward a Black Aesthetic," about Hoyt Fuller, the 1960s Black Arts Movement, and the Black intellectual community that formed in the movement’s wake. He has accepted an appointment in the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburg that will begin after a postdoctoral fellowship year in the Program in African and African American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.
Kabria Baumgartner, after a productive a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship [http://www.spencer.org/content.cfm/dissertation-fellows-2010-2011], has now accepted a position as an assistant professor at the College of Wooster. The Du Bois Department takes great pride in Kabria and all our graduates.
H. Zahra Caldwell is a 2010-2011 Dissertation Fellow in the departments of Africana and Latino Studies and History at SUNY Oneonta. http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/africlat/facultyassociatedandadjunct.html
Allia Matta has received a 2010-2011 Diversity Assistantship from the Graduate School at UMass.
Jason Hendrickson, McKinley Melton, and Vanessa Fabien won coveted teaching appointments in the UMss Amherst Undergraduate Advising & Learning Communities' Multicultural America RAP or Residential Academic Program which involves teaching our AfroAm 151Literature & Culture course to small classes taught in the first-year student's residential area. http://ualc.umass.edu/rap/multiculturalamerica/
FACULTY & STAFF NEWS
On February 25, 2011, the Black Student Union of UMass Amherst as part of its 3rd annual Black History Showcase, honored Amilcar Shabazz, Du Bois Department Chair. The BSU recognized Professor Shabazz for his devotion to teaching and his professional dedication to African American Studies. Wilmore Webley in the natural sciences, Enobong Branch in the social sciences, and Carlos Mendez in Management were other faculty that received awards. Also, the BSU gave Afro-American Studies major Justin McCarthy a distinguished peer award.
<<The group picture here of BSU officers and the various honorees was taken by Doris Clemmons, Associate Director of Institutional Diversity at UMass Amherst.
Afro-American Studies Professor Manisha Sinha was selected for the 2010-2011 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series. Her lecture "Did the Abolitionists Cause the Civil War?" was presented April 27, 2011. You can see it at http://www.livestream.com/umamherst_events/video?clipId=pla_4f9ab883-37e4-4ed8-a0c2-ba3006a65058 Also, see Professor Manisha Sinha's recent article "The Strange Victory of the Palmetto State" in The New York Times. |
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Spotlight Scholar: Steven C. Tracy, challenging boundaries and bending notes
Afro-American Studies professor Steven Tracy is a man who blurs boundaries. A writer and editor of works about African-American literature and culture and an accomplished blues musician, Tracy's made a career of mixing music and literature and of "being in places he shouldn't be." While in high school, Tracy won a national harmonica competition that landed him on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. With just a year of playing experience, Tracy was given an opportunity more seasoned musicians only dream of - the chance to launch his musical career on one of the most popular television shows of the time. "I really had no business being there," laughs Tracy.
Click here to see a full version of the article at In the Loop.
Tricia Loveland Distinguished Staff Service Award winner
From our February 12, 2010, nomination letter: Bill Strickland notes “Tricia Loveland is not our ‘employee’ in the traditional sense but someone who is very much a part of the Department’s family. Her dedication to our work is above and beyond the call of duty and she furthers our interests as though they were her own.” Manisha Sinha adds: “Ms. Tricia Loveland has been invaluable to the smooth functioning of the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies for more than a decade. She has single handedly managed the department and performed functions that in other departments are done by at least three or four staff persons, department secretary, graduate and undergraduate secretary, and a personal assistant to the Chair and Graduate Director. And she has borne these tasks in a competent and cheerful manner. In short, recognition of her service to our department and the university in general is long overdue and we recommend her highly for this distinction.” Amilcar Shabazz...observes: “In a large institution like UMass it is easy for students as well as new faculty members to feel lost and alone. Tricia gives her personal attention to people in knowing and effective ways that gets you where you need to be and feeling that you have someone in your corner who knows this campus and who cares about your success. I have seen alumni return to the department after many years and the first person they want to see is Tricia. The Spirit of ’76, of solidarity and sacrifice, is in this Minutewoman!
Thank you to all who participated in our Art & Power in Movement Conference!
The Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies thanks all the scholars and activists, writers and artists, youth and elders, who came together November 18-20, 2010, to mark our 40th year on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, as well as to support the exchange of knowledge about the dynamic period in which academic Black Studies units like ours were established. The Art & Power in Movement conference drew over 400 participants. Please click the poster to go to the conference website. We will be posting photos, as well as links to video and audio files of many conference presentations, especially by our keynoters Sister Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, and others.
Audio from keynote sessions can be found at http://trggradio.wordpress.com/ courtesy of the TRGGR Megia Group. Also, click here for the Conference Program (pdf).
Continue to check the blog of our Working Group on Black Arts & Black Power Movement Research for additional post-conference developments.