From Black Power to Black Studies: How a Radical Social Movement Became an Academic Discipline

by Fabio Rojas

The black power movement helped redefine African Americans' identity and establish a new racial consciousness in the 1960s. As an influential political force, this movement in turn spawned the academic discipline known as Black Studies. Today there are more than a hundred Black Studies degree programs in the United States, many of them located in America’s elite research institutions. In From Black Power to Black Studies , Fabio Rojas explores how this radical social movement evolved into a recognized academic discipline. Rojas traces the evolution of Black Studies over more than three decades, beginning with its origins in black nationalist politics. His account includes the 1968 Third World Strike at San Francisco State College, the Ford Foundation’s attempts to shape the field, and a description of Black Studies programs at various American universities. His statistical analyses of protest data illuminate how violent and nonviolent protests influenced the establishment of Black Studies programs. Integrating personal interviews and newly discovered archival material, Rojas documents how social activism can bring about organizational change. Shedding light on the black power movement, Black Studies programs, and American higher education, this historical analysis reveals how radical politics are assimilated into the university system.

Genres: History, Race, Academia, American History, Education, African American, Academic

304 pages, Hardcover

First published August 2, 2007

Reviews

[Addy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it's great that someone has penned the history of Black Studies as I am truly grateful for many of the things I've learned from many of the scholars and classes. However, the book's tone is so dry and repetitive it took me about a month to finish it instead of a few days/week that I normally need to finished a book of any genre.

There were sometimes when the book started to pick up, only only to be slowed down to the pace of a snail by repetition, graphs, and calculations. I understand that it was a book released by university, which might account for the dry tone, but the book also had a uneasy flow about it, making it difficult for me to understand.

As someone who used to read non-fiction exclusively (until about 8 months ago), I can tell you of all the non-fiction books I've read, this was the most dry, boring, and uneasy. I had a better understanding (and fun) reading sermons in old English.

I just thankful I got this as a gift, since my local library only had the book available as a reference.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is mandatory reading for anyone interested in Af-Am and/or the ways in which organizations (academic and non-academic) can rise, decline, and rise again. Moreover, the text brilliantly explores a social movement’s relation to the evolutions in an academic discipline.

[cynical vault · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been rereading this book in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. I enjoyed reading Rojas' work the first time around in 2007. I read it shortly after it was published in 2009 but the second time around is all the more interesting. There are plenty of lessons that we can learn about transferring popular demands into institutional action. At KSU, I have seen how students consciously or not have tapped into many of the key questions raised by the student movement discussed in this book.

[Jaz'myne Ware · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was inspiring