Africana Studies, 21st Century Black Student Activism, and High Impact Educational Practices: A Biographical Sketch of David C. Turner, III

This article examines the relationship between academia and activism. It explores the undergraduate experience of veteran 21st century Black student activist, David C. Turner, III, revealing the foundations of his academic and activist career in higher education. Framed in the context of student engagement and high impact educational practices, this paper argues that 21st century Black student activists are motivated by a belief in a society and world free from overt, insidious, and institutional racism. Furthermore, it argues that activism offers academically relevant learning opportunities. The article draws upon informal conversations and interactions, formal interviews, and Turner’s published and unpublished writings. It chronicles Turner’s undergraduate experiences at CSU, Dominguez Hills majoring in Africana Studies, president of the Organization of Africana Studies, and research and conference opportunities revealing the foundations of his pursuit of cultural grounding, academic excellence, and social responsibility. Furthermore, it highlights the links between intellectual and academic work, with activism and organizing.

ProQuest African American Heritage

African American Heritage a database for African American family history research, provided by ProQuest. Here, the user has access to a wide variety of military, birth, marriage, cohabitation, death, and census records. Also included are records from the Freedman’s Bank and various registers of slaves and free(d) persons of color. The former was a bank chartered by the federal government to encourage and guide the economic development of African American communities in the period following the end of slavery in the U.S. The latter refers to records, maintained by a number of states prior to 1865, of slaves and free(d) persons of color. Also available to the user are contacts to a community of genealogy researchers, who can provide assistance and mentoring. The readability of the documents available here can vary. Some are too faded to read easily, even with magnification, and others are handwritten, which can make them difficult to interpret. Navigating, enlarging, and reducing documents can be done without difficulty, though the range of movement and magnification is somewhat limited. Documents can be browsed and/or searched for by title, author, publisher, date, subject, language (although, at present, English is the only language available), surname and personal name, and location.The search and browse options here are understandable and can produce useful results, though the number produced by any one query is usually not extensive, so multiple queries may be needed for any research project. Pricing for this database is determined by library or school size and the number of potential users, and consortia discounts are available (contact ProQuest for a specific price quote). Its licensing agreement is the same as those used for all ProQuest databases, and in its length and composition is quite average. The quality and quantity of content in this resource is not exceptional, but it will certainly be of use to those researching African American family history, and more generally Africana Studies, especially in the states indicated in this review.

Book review: Mario J. Azevedo (Ed.), Africana Studies: A Survey of Africa and the African Diaspora

Mario J. Azevedo (Ed.), Africana Studies: A Survey of Africa and the African Diaspora (4th Ed). Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC, 2019, pp. 743, $56.70 (Hardcover), $52.24 (eBook). ISBN: 159460732X

Black/Africana Studies and Black/Africana Biblical Studies

In this study, Abraham Smith introduces the nature, history, and interventions of two theoretical-political cultural productions: Black/Africana studies (the systematic and rigorous study of Africa and African descendants) and Black/Africana biblical studies (a biblical studies’ subfield that analyzes and appraises the strategies of reception and the historical and contemporary impact of the Christian bible for people of African descent). Both cultural productions were formally introduced in U.S. educational institutions in the late 1960s as a part of the Black Freedom movement. Both have long and deep intellectual antecedents on the one hand and ever-evolving recent interventions that challenge a narrow politics of identity on the other. Through the interrogation of keywords (such as race, family, and Hip Hop or cartographies, canons, and contexts), moreover, the study examines how these two theoretical-political projects question the settled epistemologies or prevailing intellectual currencies of their respective times.

Africana Studies Catalytic Consciousness (ASCC) Theory: A Cosmic Understanding of the Impact of Africana Studies

Colonization, enslavement, and institutionalized oppression have disrupted the relationship between the educational experiences of Black students and the fate of African/Black communities. Research has shown that Africana studies has demonstrated the capacity to realign the education of Black students in higher education, leading to the advancement of communities of African descent. This analysis aims to present Africana studies catalytic consciousness theory as a framework for determining the effects of taking Africana studies classes on students who self-identify as being of African descent on college and university campuses—particularly at institutions where they are underrepresented. The main elements of the effects of Africana studies are illustrated through the lens of the Dagara cosmic wheel and its elements: fire, water, earth, mineral/stone, and nature/vegetation.