‘Find it all’: Africana Studies department reflects on teaching Black history, culture

For Michele Reid-Vazquez, an associate professor in the Africana Studies department, Black History Month is a good way to begin dialogue about Africana Studies and drum up interest in the department’s classes. But one month isn’t her sole focus.

“Every day is Black History Month in Africana Studies,” Reid-Vazquez said.

Reid-Vazquez is one of only nine faculty members in the Africana Studies department — one of the smallest in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. The professors have worked to highlight the department’s courses as well as Black history and culture throughout the year, but especially during Black History Month in February.

Pitt commemorated Black History Month — an annual celebration of the achievements by Black Americans — with a variety of programs that discussed the Black Pitt experience and inequities on campus.

Reid-Vazquez said her observance of Black History Month in classes puts particular emphasis on the African Diaspora, the term mostly used to refer to the mass dispersion of peoples from Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, from the 1500s to the 1800s. The department’s mission statement cites the African Diaspora as one of its key focuses.

Other professors utilize Black History Month to increase conversation among students, as well. Eric Beeko, a visiting lecturer, said he uses Black History Month to open dialogue on the courses he teaches, such as “History of African Diaspora.”

“I sometimes place extra emphasis on Black history in February, as other professors do, because that is the month chosen to celebrate Black history,” Beeko said. “However, some of us go beyond just limiting ourselves to one month to remember Black history.”

Beeko also said the mass protests across the nation this past summer following George Floyd’s killing had a heavy impact on the department. Beeko said he noticed more students in his Africana Studies courses in the fall. He said this might be because students want “to know more about Black people and Black culture.”

“[The protests] motivated me — including other faculty members in the department — to think of how we can approach and develop our teaching methods to bring much interest and better understanding in the study of Black people and their culture, as well as supporting the fundamental truth that ‘Black Lives Matter,’” Beeko said.

Yolanda Covington-Ward, the department chair, said the department also recognizes its own history during Black History Month. Pitt created the Africana Studies department — originally known as the Black studies department — in 1969 after the Black Action Society took over the campus computer center to demand more equity on campus for Black students and faculty.

Covington-Ward said the protest succeeded because it carried more weight than other sit-ins.

“[The computer center] wasn’t just a place where people were coming to type,” Covington-Ward said. “It was the heart of where the University had their servers and made information. That’s why it was so crucial.”

Reid-Vazquez said she teaches about the department’s origin story in her introductory-level courses.

“I always talk about collective resistance,” Reid-Vazquez said. “There’s a constant resistance to these structural inequalities.”

Reid-Vazquez added that deeper stories of the Black experience are often left out in K-12 education. She said familiar legends such as Bob Marley and Roberto Clemente sometimes facilitate interest in Africana Studies.

“[Students] are very much interested in these topics in the contemporary space, but want to know what happened 10 years ago, 20 years ago, a century ago involving these populations and popular arenas,” Reid-Vazquez said.

Covington-Ward said courses on popular culture, such as “The African American Experience in Sports” or “African American Dance,” can fulfill general education standards, such as the diversity requirement, providing a stepping stone into Africana Studies. Though the department doesn’t offer many courses, Covington-Ward said these courses are popular.

“Our courses are usually filled to capacity and often have waitlists as well, so one of the biggest challenges we have is having enough people to do the work teaching courses,” Covington-Ward said.

Other professors said they are seeing a similar trend. Beeko said his interdisciplinary “Music in Africa” course gains interest because it meets requirements for students in the College of General Studies, the music department, the graduate program for cultural studies and students working toward Africana Studies degrees.

“Courses that deal with culture — like the ‘Music in Africa’ course, which I teach as a cross-disciplinary course in both the fall and the spring terms — have always received a special amount of interest from students who come from four main departments in the University,” Beeko said.

Covington-Ward said these classes go beyond fulfilling a general education requirement, though. She said they teach students about racism and potential solutions.

“We know that the consequences of structural racism and so many other issues that impact Black communities around the world are dire,” Covington-Ward said. “We really need to try and come up with solutions.”

She added that Africana Studies allows students to learn about Black history through Black eyes, rather than the dominant view of slave owners. She referenced a newly created course, “Race in the Criminal Justice System,” as underscoring the importance of understanding how Africana Studies courses apply to other aspects of life.

“Africana Studies is really about seeing things from the perspective of people of African descent,” Covington-Ward said. “You can study Black people and not actually study or write things from the perspective of Black people.”

Reid-Vazquez also said understanding the African Diaspora is crucial to understanding the world. She said African civilizations and their contributions to religion, linguistics, politics and economics demonstrate why Africana Studies is important.

“If you’re interested in the history of the world, you can find it all in Africana Studies,” Reid-Vazquez said.