Welcome !
The Center for African American History (CAAH) draws together scholars from across the disciplines to promote the study of all aspects of African American history and the history of the African Diaspora. Defining African American history in the broadest possible terms with a commitment to Diasporic scholarship, CAAH calls upon a fine cadre of scholars who specialize in the histories of the U.S., Latin America, Asia, West Africa, and the Caribbean. The Center is an outgrowth of the great strides that the departments of African American Studies and History have made in recruiting prominent new faculty to enhance the university's longstanding strength in African History, and the study of the African Diaspora in the Americas. It is a testament to these scholars' commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship and intellectual collaboration.
In the five years since its founding, the Center has grown into a vibrant
community of engaged faculty and students across departments. With
generous funding from Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the CAAH
continues to sponsor a fall lecture series, an annual symposium on a
burgeoning subfield within African American history and the history of the
African Diaspora, and a graduate student-led dissertation-working group.
Dr. Darlene Clark Hine, Northwestern University Board of Trustees Professor of African American Studies and History, served as the inaugural director for 2004-2007 and continues to spearhead this innovative endeavor. The Center's first publication an co-edited Anthology, Black Europe and the African Diaspora, was published by the University of Illinois Press, August 2009. Seven faculty affiliates serve as the Center's planning board, assisting in the Center's governance, programming and intellectual life.
We believe that there are a number of reasons why the Center for
African American History is poised to become one of the nation's leading
Centers for the study and teaching of African American history. First,
Northwestern has a long tradition in training scholars of African American
history and the history of the African Diaspora. This legacy of excellence
is due in no small measure to the exceptional collection of Africana
documentary evidence housed in Northwestern's Melville Herskovits Library
of African Studies. Second, Northwestern now holds the distinction of
having twelve scholars working in African American history and the history
of the African Diaspora, a feature that many of the nation's leading
institutions of higher learning cannot claim. The intellectual range and
depth embodied within these scholars provides the Center for African
American History with a truly rare set of skills and talents. Third, the
geographical context of the university provides a wonderful environment
for the development of intellectual partnerships with a range of
institutions. Departments of History and African American Studies,
programs and centers at the University of Chicago, University of
Illinois-Chicago, Chicago State University, Roosevelt University, Loyola
University, and DePaul University offer unique opportunities in this
regard.
In addition to these institutions and Northwestern's extensive library
holdings, area research institutions such as the Chicago Historical
Society, the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Newberry
Library, and the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American
History and Literature offer additional opportunities for intellectual
collaboration. While most centers operate primarily as research-supporting
entities, CAAH has distinguished itself as a service oriented enterprise
dedicated to training and mentoring teachers and students of African
American history and the history of the African Diaspora. In an effort to
achieve the Center's mission, we envision sponsoring a series of summer
workshops aimed at three initiatives: "training high school teachers of
African American and American history, "graduate
students professionalizing,"and mentoring assistant professors working to transform dissertations in
African American history into book manuscripts.
