Encyclopedia of Black Studies

The Encyclopedia of Black Studies by Molefi Kete Asante is a must have book for followers and members of The Black Bar. As not only is it full of high quality information, it will often be a source referenced for topics to come in the future. So obtain a copy for yourself and household by all means. We are still building with scholarship, sharpening those critical thinking skills, & improving mental functions. Stack your arsenal with Whole Foods. Ie: Authentic and Quality Content.

Reasoning is not just about Logic. Reasoning has more to do with the quality of the content ran though the vehicle of choice. Improving Mental function is similar to improving your bodies physique. Cycles of Bulking followed by Cutting. 

The Encyclopedia of Black Studies is the First of many "Must Own" to come. Others may simply be good read referrals, but this one gets The Black Bar's seal of approval for scholarship. Here's a look inside said Work and Topic...

"Black Studies emerged as both an intellectual field and a critical ideology during the 1960s. It has remained close to its roots and also made a broad and deep impact on scholarship in general by creating a fundamental shift in the way scholars pursue research and view human societies: Black Studies has made possible an awareness of the great contributions that Africans and those of African descent have made to the discourse of knowledge. 

THE DIMENSIONS IN BLACK STUDIES

There are three dimensions in the evolution of Black Studies during the last few decades: (1) the organiza- tion of departments and programs, (2) the academic and administrative instruments dealing with the nature of the discipline, and (3) the preparation of scholars in graduate programs. Those who sought to create Black Studies were concerned with the obstacles that would be advanced to prevent the self-definition, self- determination, and intellectual liberation of those of African descent living in the Americas. This was a substantive issue because the history of American education had been against the extension of certain intellectual freedoms for Africans. Furthermore, before 1865 people of African descent living in the United States were not citizens and consequently were not African Americans but Africans. Since the 1990s, many people of African descent have used African to designate their cultural origin. This use of the term is not a reference to citizenship. The term African is being used here in a special sense to mean those who were enslaved and their descendants. Carter G. Woodson referred to this difficulty in his 1933 book The Mis-Education of the Negro. It was Woodson’s idea that where the black person had been afforded the right to education, the process was often meant to further isolate the person from his or her cultural and historical background. The idea was to make the black

person a white person in thought, attitude, and behavior, to leave the person nothing but a black shell. Therefore, the creators of Black Studies understood that one of their key demands had to be control over the process of education.

Within a university structure, all power resides in departments and faculty members, not in programs and adjuncts or research assistants. The first objective of the movement was to secure departments of Black Studies. This was a major task because there had not been any such departments at major or minor univer- sities. The best to emerge from decades of education, even in the black colleges and universities, were departments of history where individual historians— such as Chancellor Williams, Carter G. Woodson, William Leo Hansberry, John Henrik Clarke, John Jackson, Benjamin Quarles, and others—sought to demonstrate the role of Africans in world history. But some of them were often under severe pressure, criti- cized, ostracized, and hounded out of colleges seeking to express themselves as enclaves of whiteness in a sea of black students.

All of this history was available to the students of the sixties who understood that to avoid the mistakes of the black colleges they had to demand a Black Studies department where the courses would be taught from a black perspective. This was the operative term at the very beginning of the movement. It was trans- lated erroneously by some to mean that only blacks could teach in the departments, but the initial impetus was not racist or racial but ideological. Those who taught in the departments of Black Studies had to understand and appreciate the black perspective." ~Preface-Encyclopedia of Black Studies

About the Editors

"Molefi Kete Asante is considered one of the most distinguished contemporary scholars in Black Studies. He is the author of 55 books and more than 300 articles in 25 different journals.

Dr. Asante was the first director of UCLA’s Center for Afro-American Studies, from 1969 to 1973, where he was responsible for developing the research and cur- riculum programs. During the past 30 years, he has edited the Journal of Black Studies, making it one of the most prestigious journals in the field of Black Studies.

Dr. Asante has been recognized as one of the 10 most widely cited African Americans. He has taught at several universities, including UCLA, Purdue, Florida State, Howard, SUNY Buffalo, and Temple. At Temple University he created the first Ph.D. pro- gram in African American Studies. He has directed more than 100 doctoral dissertations. In 2001, Transition Magazine said, “Asante may be the most important professor in Black America.” Dr. Asante has received scores of awards and recognitions, including the distinguished Douglas Ehninger Award for Rhetorical Scholarship from the National Com- munication Association in 2002.

Ama Mazama is one of the leading theorists of the Afrocentric school. With a doctorate from La Sorbonne in Paris, Dr. Mazama is one of the most

important professors in Black Studies. She is the author of five books, including L’Imperatif Afrocentrique and The Afrocentric Paradigm. Her articles and essays have appeared in many scholarly journals nationally and internationally, and she has been cited by African American Studies professional organizations for scholarship and intellectual activism. As a prominent consultant for educational institutions, she has pio- neered in the area of making scholarship relevant to the African community.

Dr. Mazama has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, and Temple University. She has trained outstanding graduate students and has been the most prolific teacher of undergraduates in African American Studies at Temple. A teacher of remarkable talent, Dr. Mazama has also been an academic leader in Black Studies. Her work has focused on language, linguistics, and theory. She has been particularly skillful in defending the Afrocentric paradigm as a legitimate framework for analyzing events and texts. Her work has been published in both French and English. Cited by the Cheikh Anta Diop Conference’s committee for outstanding research and academic excellence, Dr. Mazama has won both the Ankh Award and the Diop Award, becoming the only person ever to win both of these distinguished awards. "

THE ORIGINS OF BLACK STUDIES

"Nearly 40 years ago, African American students at San Francisco State College engaged in protests that led to the creation of the first bachelor’s degree–granting departments of Black Studies in the United States. Nathan Hare was made the first chair- person of the department. This was 1967. A year later, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, leading to the most widespread demonstrations and urban disturbances in the history of the United States. However, with the death of King came a renewed commitment on the part of the American nation to bring about educational reform, and Black Studies was one of the beneficiaries of this new mood.

Since that time, scholars have undertaken the task of fleshing out Black Studies with theoretical works, research studies, methodological discourses, social responsibilities, and institution building. The success of these efforts, against the enduring intransigence of the academy toward Black Studies, has been phenomenal and sustaining. The fact that the Encyclopedia of Black Studies can now be written attests to the maturity of the field."

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"G.O.D"

~HighLife