Africana Studies

Resources

Africana Studies occupies a spacious suite of offices, classrooms, seminar rooms, library and reception areas. The program benefits from the extensive holdings of Seymour Library, with more than a quarter of a million books, more than 700 periodicals, rare book collections and on-line databases. The abolitionist section in the archives is a valuable and unique resource.

In addition, the ABLE Center for Black Culture, operated by the student group, Allied Blacks for Liberty and Equality, maintains a cultural center with an extensive library of print and video materials, cultural artifacts relating to the African and African- American experiences, and meeting rooms for special events and study sessions.

Knox College's holdings of Africana Studies materials and excellent inter-library loan program provide ready access to research resources. Since Africana Studies research has been widespread for less than a half century, the resources you discover -- and the conclusions you draw -- may be previously unexamined and provide a source of help for future studies in the field.

On-Campus Programs

Knox has hosted many noteworthy black authors, speakers and performing groups, including U.S. Congressman John Lewis, Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka, poets Rita Dove and Gwendolyn Brooks, blues artists Koko Taylor and Joe Jackson, the Najwa Dance Company, Haki Madhubuti, Martin Luther King, III, Itabari Njeri, KRS-1, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Scholars who have visited the campus include Delores Aldridge, Maulana Karenga, and Beverly Guy-Sheftall.

There are a number of co-curricular opportunities geared for students interested in Africana Studies. These include:

• ABLE (Allied Blacks for Liberty and Equality), formed in 1967, and open to students of all races, unites students around common concerns regarding the Black experience.
• RAMSU (Real African Men Standing Up), addresses the concerns of African American men on the Knox campus and in the larger society.
• Harambee Club aims at clarifying the false stereotypes about Africa by promoting African history and culture through various activities.