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The Encyclopedia of Black Studies is the leading reference source for dynamic and innovative research on the Black experience. The concept for the encyclopedia was developed from the successful Journal of Black Studies (SAGE) and contains a full analysis of the economic, political, sociological, historical, literary, and philosophical issues related to Americans of African descent. This single-volume reference is the vanguard of the recent explosive growth in quality scholarship in the field.

More than a chronicle of black culture or black people, this encyclopedia deals with the emergence and maturity of an intellectual field over the past four decades. Beginning with the protests at San Francisco State College in 1967 that led to the first degree-granting department of Black Studies, the field′s rapid growth over time necessitates an authoritative account of the discipline. More than ever scholars and students need a clear conception of what the evolutionary processes have been in the creation and maintenance of the discipline. 

Chronology of Important Events in Black Studies

1966 Merritt College Black Studies Courses
1967 San Francisco State University Protests
1968 San Francisco State University Black Studies Program Established
1969 Cornell University students seize student center to protest harassment of African American Students
1970 University of California, Los Angeles opens Center for Afro American Studies
1969  Robert Singleton and Molefi Asante creates Journal of Black Studies
1972 National Black Political Convention of Gary, Indiana
1974 National Council of Black Studies founded
1982 Maulana Karenga′s Introduction to Black Studies published
1983 Mae Jemison who received majored in Black Studies and engineering is made the first African American female astronaut.
1986  Cheikh Anta Diop makes his transition
1988 Temple University approves  doctoral program in African American Studies created by Molefi Kete Asante
1988 Toni Morrison wins Pulitzer Prize for Beloved
1990 Adeniyi Coker receives first Ph.D. in African American Studies
1992 Harvard University seeks "Dream Team" in African American Studies
1995 More than a million black men march in Washington, DC
1997 Phile Chionesu and Barbara Smith bring one million women to Philadelphia

Key Features



More than 240 signed articles by nearly 200 scholars, organized A to Z, with coverage spanning the social sciences
Edited by the founder and current editor of the Journal of Black Studies
Reader′s Guide facilitates browsing by topic and easy access to information
Contains numerous illustrative charts, sidebars, and historical photographs
Appendices with listings of doctoral granting programs, major journals in the field, and professional and scholarly associations
Master Bibliography

Key Themes
• Afrocentricity
• Annual Conferences
• Anti-Racism
• Arts
• Associations and Organizations
• Books
• Campus Politics
• Civil Rights
• Classical Africa
• Concepts
• Culture
• Departmental Histories
• Films
• Institutions
• Intellectual Schools
• Journals
• Legal Issues
• Movements
• Newspapers
• Political Issues
• Professional Organizations
• Publishers
• Racism
• Religion
• Reparations
• Research Centers
• Resistance
• Theories
• United States Constitution

Editorial Board
Dr. Troy Allen, Southern University
Dr. S.B. Assensoh, Indiana University
Dr. Katherine Olukemi Bankole, West Virginia University
Professor Leroy Bryant, Chicago State University
Dr. Patricia Dixon, Georgia State University
Howard Dodson, New York Public Library
Dr. Lewis Gordon, Brown University
Dr. Winston Van Horne, University of Wisconsin
Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems, University of Missouri-Columbia
Dr. Charles Jones, Georgia State University
Dr. Maulana Karenga, California State University, Long Beach
Dr. Manning Marable, Columbia University
Dr. Miriam Monges, California State University, Chico
Dr. Wade Nobles, San Francisco State University
Dr. Emeka Nwadiora, Temple University
Dr. James Turner, Cornell University