The Committee on Africa and the Americas (1988-2002)

In the fall semester 1988, James Lesher, then acting dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, responded to an initiative from various faculty members to establish a new, interdisciplinary program called "Africa and the Americas." Assessing the feasibility of the proposal, Dr. Lesher commented that the proposal "would involve various activities: preparation of new courses, visiting speakers and special topic colloquia, visiting professors, some tenure-track appointments, graduate and post-doctoral fellows, all building on existing faculty research strengths in this college on aspects of African history and culture and the inter-relations between Africa and this hemisphere. While our initial interest centers on humanities topics (inter-relations in the arts, literature, languages, history, philosophy, etc.) we would assume that scholars in [College of Behavioral and Social Sciences] units (Afro-American studies, anthropology, sociology, etc.) would be centrally involved and critical partners as the projects gets underway."

Under the leadership of a Steering Committee designated by Dr. Lesher, the Committee in Africa and the Americas— later known as the Committee on Africa and Africa in the Americas before returning to its original name in 1995—promoted the study and understanding of Africa and the African diaspora at the University of Maryland and throughout the Maryland-Washington region. With strong representation in the humanities and the social sciences, the faculty, staff, and students affiliated with the Committee engaged in interdisciplinary explorations of the history, culture, politics, and creative expressions of black peoples and blackness throughout the world.

Over the 1990s, the Committee coordinated an ever-widening range of courses in African and diasporic studies. Welcoming dozens of guests to the College Park campus, the Committee also participated in the appointment of two faculty members who specialized in diasporic questions. In the latter half of the decade, the Committee sponsored several major symposia, on topics including critical race theory in the United States, the intersections of race and nation in Brazil and the Caribbean, New World inventions of Africa and Africanity, and the social and political lives of black economists.

The Committee was both a beneficiary of and a catalyst for the dramatic elevation of diasporic studies at the University of Maryland taking places over the 1990s. Its success made a significant contribution to the momentum that lead to the establishment of the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the African Diaspora in 2001.

After much thoughtful discussion concerning the Committee's relationship to the new Driskell Center, the Committee director, in consultation with the incoming director of the Driskell Center and the deans of the Colleges of Arts and Humanities and Behavioral and Social Sciences, proposed that the Committee and the Driskell Center merge into a single, non-degree-granting unit of the College of Arts and Humanities. The fusion took place on August 15, 2002.

The Driskell Center recognizes and thanks the faculty members who led the drive to create the Committee and the faculty, staff, and students who helped the Committee exceed its original mission. The list of thanks is topped by professors Louis Harlan, Alfred Moss, the late B. Marie Perinbam, and Winthrop R. Wright of the Department of History. The Center also thanks Samuel Myers, Jr., Professor of Economics and former Director of the Afro-American Studies Program and his colleagues, for their efforts to ensure that the Committee establish its feet firmly in the social sciences and the humanities. We commend the faculty members who held the position of Committee Chair/Director—Gene Hammond, A. Lynn Bolles, Rhonda Williams, Carla Peterson, Phyllis Peres, Ekpo Eyo, and Daryle Williams—as well as the graduate assistants who tirelessly administered the program over the years. We are grateful for the support provided by the Provost and deans of the Colleges of Arts and Humanities and Behavioral and Social Sciences. Finally, we congratulate the winners of past years' Campus Events and Research & Travel Grants competitions as well as the scholars, artists, performers, and community activists who have come to Maryland as guests of the Committee.

The Driskell Center looks forward to working with you all.