The College of Charleston will offer an African American Studies major beginning in the fall of 2014.
The new major consists of 33 credit hours of interdisciplinary coursework.
“With this major in place, all College of Charleston students whether they are majors, minors, or non-majors will have a rich array of opportunities to study African American history and culture,” says College of Charleston Provost George Hynd. “The African American Studies major will allow us to make more intentional and coordinated use of the unique history, places, and resources available to us in Charleston. It also allows us to uniquely contribute to other historic and culturally important institutions such as the College’s Avery Center.”
The major in African American Studies aims to do four things:
- Provide students with an understanding of the history and culture of African Americans, and of race and diversity in the Atlantic World;
- Introduce students to the diversity of methodological approaches to these issues by studying them in a variety of disciplines;
- Promote the study of African American history and culture in Charleston and Lowcountry;
- Make African American Studies an integral part of intellectual life at the College of Charleston.
“We are very excited about this new major. The Lowcountry provides a wealth of curricular and extracurricular opportunities for our students,” says African American Studies Director Conseula Francis. “We have faculty from English, teacher education, history, sociology, anthropology, political science, religious studies and theatre. Our students pursue careers in various areas, such as law, politics, medicine, art, teaching, entertainment, and journalism. We are poised to be the national model of undergraduate education in African American Studies.”
