Ph. D. Candidate Marcus Smith's digital humanities project and nascent organization, Black Grassroots Heritage Preservation Network (BGHPN), is featured in the newly released Fall issue of Historic New England Magazine,published this morning. In her article, “Learning to See the Layers: Centering Marginalized Stories in Historic Preservation,” Sarah Marsom highlights BGHPN alongside Latinos in Heritage Preservation and Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation as national networks working to broaden the narratives represented within the preservation field. The feature also
The UMass Office of Equity and Inclusion is proud to announce the Professor John H. Bracey Jr. Leadership Awards, to be presented to three outstanding members of the UMass Amherst community at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Brunch on January 20, 2026. Nominations will be accepted until December 15, 2025.
The Professor John H. Bracey Jr. Awards (formerly the Chancellor’s Leadership Awards) honor the lasting legacy and impact of an innovative scholar, mentor, community member, and activist. These awards are crafted with the intention to recognize contributions by University students
The W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in 20th Century African American History, with a focus on Black Women. A subfield examining Black Feminisms or Gender and Sexuality would also be of interest.
I'Maya Gibbs, PhD Student in Afro-American Studies, has been selected as a student ambassador for The HistoryMakers Digital Archive, the nation’s largest African American video oral history archive.
Dr. Robert Paul Wolff was Professor Emeritus in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies and the inaugural graduate program director in our department. Prof. Wolff moved his tenure line from Philosophy to Afro-American Studies so that he could dedicate his time and focus to helping to create what is now the second ever Ph.D. program founded in Afro-American Studies in the country. A beloved supporter of students and an advocate for radical thought and justice, he was also the founding director of the Social Thought and Political Economy (STPEC) program in the College of Social
Please join the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies for an intimate conversation with Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole and several former and current faculty members. Dr. Cole is the first Black woman to serve as president of Spelman College. She is also the former President of Bennett College for Women, and the former Director of the National Museum of African Art. Dr. Cole taught anthropology at University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1970 to 1983 and was associate provost for undergraduate education from 1981 to 1983. While at the UMass, she played a pivotal role in the development of
For eight days, from June 22 to June 29, 2025, a team of researchers in the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies in the College of Education led a residential teacher’s institute, the Souls of Black Folk and the Foundations of African American Studies.
Letícia Fernanda Carvalho Silva, a PhD student in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, has been awarded a competitive Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship!She is the only UMass Amherst graduate student to receive this nationally competitive award this year. We are incredibly proud of Letícia and look forward to the wonderful dissertation that will result from the support from this fellowship. You make the Du Bois Department proud!