African American Studies (Minor)

Program Overview

BLACK LIVES MATTER AT HOOD

African American Studies enables all Hood College students to expand their knowledge and appreciation of Black history and culture. Firmly based in liberal arts, the minor’s interdisciplinary approach provides students with opportunities to study the lives and contemporary experiences of people of African descent in America.

Our program focuses primarily on African Americans in the United States, but includes a series of courses on African culture, history and politics worldwide. The curriculum allows students to examine the interrelated dynamics of class, gender, race, ethnicity, politics and identity.

BLACK LIVES MATTER STATEMENT from African-American Studies Advisory Board, September 2020:

We, the members of the African American Studies Advisory Board at Hood College, stand with you in unity. We have witnessed the events of the past many months and years, and experienced the frustration and anger engendered by the reasons that created a need for protests and change. We, like you, understand that the nationwide calls for change are not just about the murder of African Americans by law enforcement. They are also about the daily harassments and indignities suffered by African Americans at the hands of the criminal justice system, and of far too many other entities and individuals. We, too, have been greatly impacted by the frustration inherent in witnessing a disproportionate number of Black and Brown people die from the Covid-19 pandemic. We understand that the frustration and pain in the country at this time is about the structural inequality that has created seemingly insurmountable barriers to progress. We stand with you in unity. 

At times it seems that things have not gotten better, but we must all remember that people working together in solidarity have made changes in society. The pain of what we are witnessing and experiencing seems overwhelming. The static nature of how Black lives are devalued in this country is maddening, but remember that we can facilitate change. We have facilitated change. We as a democracy can and will prevail. History tells us that change has occurred through the persistence of those who stand up for justice and work to eliminate racism. The foot soldiers who woke up each morning and put one foot in front of the other on the path toward freedom during the Modern Civil Rights Movement did not stop. They worked to create new moral paradigms; they successfully urged the creation of new legislation. They stood together for the cause of liberty, of justice, to force a nation to confront its wicked reality and to make the words written in the founding documents apply to all. We can and must continue the work of those foot soldiers as we march toward a world of equity and justice.

We, the African American Studies Advisory Board at Hood College, are here to help create and maintain community.  At this time, we ask that you take care of yourselves both physically and mentally.  If you are struggling and need help, please reach out to any one of us and we will help you.  

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated: "Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be."

In Unity,  

African American Studies Advisory Board  

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