The African American and African Diaspora Studies Program (AADS) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) was established in 1981 as a “student designed” minor in Black Studies. Located in Greensboro, North Carolina, the AADS program at UNCG shares a rich history with the city of Greensboro a location in the Underground Railroad, a hotbed for Civil Rights activism, and home of the Greensboro sit-ins that originated in downtown Greensboro.
The AADS program is committed to enabling all of its students to engage in meaningful learning activities that provide them with an integrated and critical understanding of the experiences and contributions of peoples of African descent throughout the Americas. The program offers students the opportunity to examine experiences of Africans and African descendants by using theories and methods stemming from African American Studies and other fields. The interdisciplinary nature of the program allows its students to employ and combine the methods of traditional disciplines (e.g. literature, history, music, the visual arts, art history, religion, economics, philosophy, gender studies, political science, and sociology) in analyzing problems, issues, and questions that lie at the center of social, cultural, and political thought and action. This approach not only requires students to understand the interconnectedness of artistic and social phenomena but also the need for interdisciplinary study in order to comprehend them. In effect, (AADS) students are able to apply these theories and methodologies to better understand the social, political, and economic problems facing African Americans and peoples of African descent throughout the world.
The program currently offers a bachelor's degree, and a post-baccalaureate certificate (PBC). Each year the program hosts its annual Conference on African American and African Diasporic Culture and Experiences (CACE) which offers the community and university an opportunity to examine the critical and timely issues that persons of African descent face globally, nationally, and locally.
History
Between 1981-82, due to concerns expressed by a number of student groups on campus as well as the faculty-led Black Studies Committee (BSC), changes were requested from the university administration to address race relations on campus and the representation of minority students and faculty. It was argued that the present administration and social programming agencies on campus were not sensitive to the academic and social needs of minorities, specifically Black students. The Black Student Alliance (BSA) noted that the Student Government Association failed to address and represent the concerns of Black students, citing their overlook of racial tensions on campus. Therefore, the BSA felt it was the responsibility of the administration, the Student Development Advisory Board, the Media Board and Black Student Alliance to collectively become the catalyst for better racial relations at UNCG. In an effort to usher in the era of change, the BSA requested the following changes from the administration: to develop a new process for hiring Black faculty, to adjust the percentage of Black faculty on campus to be proportionate to the percentage of Black students, to develop more courses that pertain to minorities in all areas of study, to revise the current curriculum to reflect the achievements and to accomplishments of Blacks in all academic disciplines, and to use more sensitivity in administrative practices concerning minorities.
In December 1982, a formal petition was filed and signed by faculty and students urging the administration at UNCG to support and implement a Black Studies Program and to integrate Black Studies into existing courses. Students renewed interest in previous demands made in 1982 by the coalition of Black campus organizations after a white student called a Black student dorm employee by a racial slur. As a result, Black students urged the administration to support the establishment of a Black Studies Program. They argued that additional Black faculty would unify Black and white students. They also argued that courses with a Black or an African emphasis would help to broaden white students’ understanding of Blacks and that more Black faculty would give the school’s 1,292 Black students (10.1 percent) needed role models. Before the new hiring, in 1983, only 15 or 2.39 percent of UNCG’s 628 full and part-time faculty were black.