VISITING SCHOLARS AT UH START WHERE DU
BOIS, KING LEFT OFF
For UH African American Studies, Black History Month Is a Year Long
Commemoration
HOUSTON, Feb. 26, 2004 – February might mark Black History
Month, but for the University of Houston African American Studies
Program (AAS) black history is celebrated all year long.
Bold images of Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois, Fredrick Douglass and
other historical figures decorate the office of AAS visiting scholar
Reiland Rabaka. For Rabaka, and fellow visiting scholar Andrew Smallwood,
UH is their home away from home, where they can concentrate on completing
their respective research.
Each year, the AAS program selects at least two scholars from across
the nation to participate in a one-year appointment in which they
teach a course of their own design while working toward the completion
of a research project.
“The program is part of a much larger initiative,”
said James Conyers, director of the program. “We are looking
to recruit and retain high quality minority faculty and students,
not only to increase diversity on campus, but to advance the program
to an autonomous departmental unit that will ultimately enable us
to introduce a baccalaureate major degree in the African-American
Studies discipline.”
For 35 years, AAS has provided students with a comprehensive education
based on the study of African life, thought and practice. The Visiting
Scholars Program and the scholars it attracts have been no exception.
Since its inception in 1995, the scholars program has played a
vital role in supporting scholars to contribute innovative teaching
and research in the field of African-American Studies. Whether it
is perspectives on Black History Month, Critical Marxism or Male
Feminism, the program allows its scholars to follow the path and
continue the efforts that W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter Woodson and others
began.
This year’s chosen scholars are Rabaka, assistant professor
of Africana philosophy at the Department of Black Studies at California
State University, Long Beach and Smallwood, assistant professor
of Black Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Together
they are utilizing this academic year not only to complete their
research projects, but to impart the knowledge and experience they
have gained to students through seminars.
Born in Dallas to a struggling, single mother and the second of
three sons, Rabaka was immediately interested in the candid discussion
of racism and black spirituality in Du Bois’ “The Souls
of Black Folk.”
Rabaka believes the study of black history is indispensable not
just for African Americans, but all Americans.
“African Americans have been central to every major historical
breakthrough and setback this country has had: from the Civil War
to the Civil Rights Movement,” Rabaka said. “Black History
Month, at its best, represents a move closer to multicultural democracy,
to the kind of country that resembles the collective dreams and
aspirations of human beings from all over the world.”
Smallwood hails from the upper west side of Manhattan and is the
youngest of three sons. His father, a social worker, and his mother,
a guidance counselor, planted the seeds of education from early
on.
“I was lucky to have been brought up in a place where exposure
to diversity and arts and culture were at my fingertips,”
Smallwood said. “As a kid our fieldtrips were to New York
City’s world-renowned museums, theatre and music halls but
I didn’t lose my identity. I gained one.”
Smallwood achieved his doctoral degree in education after completing
his master’s degree in counselor education, and a bachelor’s
in community studies.
As author of “An Afro centric Study of the Intellectual Development,
Leadership Praxis and Pedagogy of Malcolm X” and co-editor
of “Malcolm X: A Historical Reader,” Smallwood has more
than a few thoughts on black history and the AAS program.
“The fact that many schools like the University of Houston
celebrate Black History Month with activities, demonstrates at the
least their engagement in the celebratory aspects that its founder
Dr. Woodson sought,” Smallwood said. “The challenge
in continuing these efforts beyond February still lies in the manner
in which institutions support the research of faculty and students
in the Africana Studies departments and programs. Maintaining this
mission will help provide a quality educational experience for students.”
With the efforts and insights of Smallwood and Rabaka, Conyers
and the AAS program may make great strides in moving forward with
their mission. And maybe, just maybe, Smallwood, Rabaka and future
AAS visiting scholars will call UH home, for good.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research
and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers
and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate,
civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university
in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and
service with more than 35,000 students.
For more information about the AAS program visit http://www.class.uh.edu/aas/.
For more information about UH visit the universitys Newsroom at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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