African American and African Studies

A collage of four portraits. Top left: A woman with long dark hair, glasses, and a denim jacket smiles outdoors in front of greenery. Top right: A woman with long dark hair and a white blazer smiles in a wooded area with autumn leaves. Bottom left: A woman with long light brown hair and a white shirt smiles indoors against a neutral background. Bottom right: A woman with short hair and hoop earrings stands in front of colorful artwork in a gallery setting, wearing a black polka-dot top.
African American and African Studies / Alumni / Arts MSU / Faculty / Faculty / Linguistics / News / Religious Studies / Research / Scholarship / Visual Arts, Arts Administration, and Performing Arts

First MSU Faculty and Alum Selected for Artists-in-Residence Program at W.K. Kellogg Biological Station

May 28, 2025

Michigan State University’s College of Arts & Letters will be well represented this year among the Farmscapes to Forests: Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research Artists-in-Residence Program. The 2025 artists-in-residence will include an assistant professor, post-doctoral research associate, and recent graduate, all from MSU's College of Arts & Letters. They will be joined by an artist from New York to…

Continue ReadingFirst MSU Faculty and Alum Selected for Artists-in-Residence Program at W.K. Kellogg Biological Station
Read more about the article Boston’s Poet Laureate Selected as 2025 Womxn of Color Initiatives Artist-in-Residence
African American and African Studies / Arts MSU / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Event / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / News

Boston’s Poet Laureate Selected as 2025 Womxn of Color Initiatives Artist-in-Residence

March 19, 2025

Michigan State University’s Womxn of Color Initiatives (WOCI) has selected Porsha Olayiwola, Poet Laureate for the city of Boston, Massachusetts, as its 2025 Artist-in-Residence. An award-winning poet, performer, educator, and curator, Olayiwola employs Afrofuturism and surrealism to explore historical and contemporary issues within the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She will be in residence on Michigan State University’s campus March 24-27.

Continue ReadingBoston’s Poet Laureate Selected as 2025 Womxn of Color Initiatives Artist-in-Residence
Read more about the article African American and African Studies Faculty Leaders to Deliver Keynote Address at Inaugural MLK Student Symposium
African American and African Studies / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Event / Faculty / Faculty / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / News / Student

African American and African Studies Faculty Leaders to Deliver Keynote Address at Inaugural MLK Student Symposium

January 15, 2025

The inaugural MLK Student Symposium that is set to take place on Saturday, Jan. 18, at the MSU Union will give students the chance to discuss the challenges faced within systemic barriers, to share their experiences, express their identities, and promote inspiration for change. The keynote speakers for this event are Department of African American and African Studies faculty leaders Ruth Nicole Brown and LeConté Dill.

Continue ReadingAfrican American and African Studies Faculty Leaders to Deliver Keynote Address at Inaugural MLK Student Symposium
Read more about the article First MSU Students to Earn BA Degrees in African American and African Studies Graduate This Spring
African American and African Studies / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / News / Student

First MSU Students to Earn BA Degrees in African American and African Studies Graduate This Spring

April 19, 2024

Michigan State University’s Spring 2024 commencement will see the very first students to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in African American and African Studies. As the first graduates of this program, Morgan Braswell, Jhala Martin, and Mike Martin mark a significant milestone in the history of the Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS), the history of the College…

Continue ReadingFirst MSU Students to Earn BA Degrees in African American and African Studies Graduate This Spring
Read more about the article Afrofuturism & Quilting Exhibition: Exploring Connections Within Teaching, Learning, and Quilt Praxis
African American and African Studies / Arts MSU / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Exhibition / Faculty / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / News / Research / Scholarship

Afrofuturism & Quilting Exhibition: Exploring Connections Within Teaching, Learning, and Quilt Praxis

April 17, 2024

Stitch by stitch, quilt making has played an integral role in African American history. But the storytelling embedded in the quilts themselves is more than mere tradition. In the Afrofuturism & Quilts: Materializing Black Futures & Black Womxn’s Quilt Legacies Exhibition now on display through Friday, July 19, at the MSU Union Art Gallery, local and national quilt artists and quilt scholars explore embodied and theoretical connections between Afrofuturism and quilt making.

Continue ReadingAfrofuturism & Quilting Exhibition: Exploring Connections Within Teaching, Learning, and Quilt Praxis
Woman sitting on a couch looking at camera with many photos pasted on a white wall behind her.
African American and African Studies / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / News / Research / Student / Student

Researching the Role of Community for Black Students at Predominately White Institutions

March 4, 2024

Evamelo (Eva) Oleita, who is among the inaugural class of students majoring in African American and African Studies (AAAS) at Michigan State University, is researching the experiences of Black girls within predominately white institutions (PWIs) and how those students carve out spaces for themselves to thrive.

Continue ReadingResearching the Role of Community for Black Students at Predominately White Institutions
Read more about the article MSU’s African American and African Studies Strengthened by Transformative Gift
African American and African Studies / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Donor / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / Michigan Impact / News

MSU’s African American and African Studies Strengthened by Transformative Gift

June 7, 2023

A gift of $500,000 that’s rooted in reparations and recognizes the powerful contributions being made by Michigan State University’s Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS) toward racial and social justice will benefit the students and faculty of that department for generations to come. The Adrian Dominican Sisters, a Catholic congregation of more than 400 Dominican sisters and 200…

Continue ReadingMSU’s African American and African Studies Strengthened by Transformative Gift
Read more about the article Love of Black History Draws Student to African American and African Studies Major
African American and African Studies / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / News / Student

Love of Black History Draws Student to African American and African Studies Major

February 2, 2023

Michigan State University junior Morgan Braswell has had an interest in Black Studies from a very young age. Growing up in Detroit, watching shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and A Different World, and hearing her father talk about Malcolm X, instilled in Braswell a sense of pride in her culture. That influence has led her to become one…

Continue ReadingLove of Black History Draws Student to African American and African Studies Major
Read more about the article Making History at Michigan State University
African American and African Studies / Event / Faculty / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / News

Making History at Michigan State University

February 1, 2023

Making history at Michigan State University: Barry D. Amis, David W.D. Dickson, and Ruth Nicole Brown The College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University has been part of many firsts when it comes to Black history, including hiring David W.D. Dickson, who was the first Black faculty member at MSU and, more recently, establishing the Department of African…

Continue ReadingMaking History at Michigan State University