Minor in African American Studies

Through our minor in African-American Studies, you’ll gain a better understanding of our nation as a whole and African-Americans’ contribution to it.

You’ll explore how race, power, and resistance have shaped American society more broadly. You’ll also gain a meaningful and informed sense of events like Ferguson and Charlottesville, which swirl around our national consciousness and shape our politics and culture every day. In that sense, being an African-American Studies minor can make you a more informed citizen.

This minor can also make you a more marketable potential employee after college. As studies from the “Wall Street Journal,” Monster.com, and others have shown, employers want to hire people who are diversity-conscious. This is true across disciplines, from the humanities to STEM fields. Employers want employees to be knowledgeable of contexts and experiences outside of their own. 

What You Will Learn

At its roots, African-American Studies instills students with:

• critical thinking skills
• intellectual dexterity
• cultural competencies that will be valuable later in life
• historical and modern contributions of African Americans to American life, culture, and politics

Program Faculty

African American Studies Teaching Affiliates

• Kiesha Warren-Gordon, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology
• Emily Ruth Rutter, Assistant Professor of English
• Sheron Fraser-Burgess, Professor of Social Foundations of Education and Multicultural Education
• Max Felker-Kantor, Visiting Assistant Professor
• Jessica Reuther, Assistant Professor of History
• Jackson Bartlett, Assistant Teaching Professor of Honors College
• Angela Jackson-Brown, Assistant Teaching Professor of English

African American Studies Affiliates

• Kristin Cipollone, Assistant Professor of Elementary Education
• Jennifer Erickson, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Assistant Chair of the Department of Anthropology
• Kevin Harrelson, Associate Professor of Philosophy
• Emily Johnson, Assistant Professor of History
• Lyn Jones, Assistant Teaching Professor of English
• Andy Luttrell, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science
• Debbie Mix, Professor of English
• Suban Nur Cooley, Assistant Professor of English
• Scott Stephan, Associate Professor of History
• Gabriel Tait, Assistant Professor of Journalism

Program Requirements

Total Credits

15

Classes

Required Courses

All students in this minor must take the following three courses.

• AFAM 100 Introduction to African American Studies
• AFAM 200 African American Studies Theory and Methods
• AFAM 400 African American Studies Capstone

Electives

You will take a total of six credits in classes from the following subjects:

• Architecture
• Communication Studies
• Criminal Justice and Criminology
• English
• History
• Political Science
• Psychological Science
• Sociology
• Telecommunications

For a complete list of all the courses you will take and their descriptions, please see our Course Catalog.

View Catalog

Enroll in this Minor

To enroll in this minor, please contact our program advisor, Tareq Robin.

Contact Advisor

Connect With Us