University of Virginia Library

Black Studies

Two reports concerning ethnic studies are
currently in the hands of President Shannon.
One, from Dean Fredson Bowers, concerns
what has been done for the next term. The
other, from an ad hoc committee of black
students, concerns what ought to be done.
Both are deserving of close scrutiny, for they
deal with an area of great import to the
community.

That white society is abysmally ignorant of
black culture is evident in the numerous
misconceptions and inaccurate generalizations
that hamper efforts toward an understanding
between the races. This country's educational
system has suffered one of its most significant
failures in its suppression of such things as
black history and the contributions of the
black man to the arts, etc. The black man has
been disenfranchised in the minds of white
America, and it is this that is perhaps his
greatest obstacle to equality.

The University has an obligation in its role
as the capstone of the state's educational
system to present a program of teaching and
research in areas of black culture. The times
demand it; moreover, the academic criteria
which govern any University obligate us to
pursue and disseminate knowledge of any
significance to society at large. Black culture
certainly qualifies.

Any student who graduates from a
university with no knowledge of the most
significant problem that his generation will
have to face has not received a complete
education. Any program that the University
sets up ought to be designed to reach the
greatest number of students possible. The
College will not grant a degree to anyone who
has not taken a laboratory science and
physical education; we do not maintain that
the study of black culture be made mandatory,
but surely its importance rivals
volleyball and geology.

The plan presented by Dean Bowers falls
short of these standards in many ways,
although it is admittedly only a first step. It
calls for the establishment of an interdepartmental
major in black studies, open to anyone
with the initiative to arrange his own program
from a variety of courses offered in several
departments. Interdepartmental major programs
have not been very successful in the
past, due to many factors, among them the
counselling system and the lack of introductory
courses to stimulate initial interest.
But they have always been based upon a
foundation of course material specifically
related to the subject involved. A student in
Latin-American studies, for example, may
divide his time between the Spanish and
Foreign Affairs Departments, but he is always
taking courses that deal specifically with Latin
America.

In light of these considerations, the
proposed program is a slipshod effort at best,
and is not worthy of a serious academic
community. Essentially, it is a collection of
courses, none of them new, which may touch
upon black culture as a peripheral or
incidental interest. None of them deal
specifically with the Afro-American experience
and some have such a peripheral interest
in black culture that their relevance in an
Afro-American studies program would be
questionable at best. No provisions have been
made for graduate study. In its present state,
the program is wholly inadequate, even in
comparison to the existing interdepartmental
programs. Even a concentrated effort by the
departments involved to insure that relevant
ethnic issues were included in the present
course structure would not be sufficient.

Along with Mr. Bowers, we "confidently
assume" that this is only the beginning and
that new courses will be added as a matter of
the highest priority, but we are distressed that
his report failed to deal with any future plans.
It would be well, therefore, for the faculty to
devote some serious consideration to the
proposals of the black students committee,
ignoring, if they can, the fact that it was not
presented "through channels." It is a document
of considerable intelligence and foresight.

It calls for the establishment of institute
for Afro-American studies, an undergraduate
survey course in black culture, and the
aforementioned interdepartmental major,
with the important addition of graduate
programs of teaching and research in the field.
It calls for the establishment of a number of
courses which are sadly lacking in the present
set-up, dealing with black contributions to the
arts, ghetto sociology, black history, etc. And
it recognizes the necessity for black
instructors in these courses.

Without these or comparable innovations,
any black studies program will fall far short of
its potential. One of the major problems with
interdepartmental majors still exists in the
proposed Afro-American program, the necessity
for an introductory course to stimulate
initial interest. Such a course would be of
value to anyone who took it, even if no
further black studies were planned. Its
establishment ought to be given the highest
priority. The courses recommended in the
report will be vital and necessary to a worthy
program.

The primary problem, of course, will be
finding the men to teach these courses.
Qualified experts, especially black ones, will
be very much in demand in the immediate
future, when many universities attempt to
establish black studies programs before too
many graduates of such programs are available
to teach in their field. For this reason, the
Institute proposed by the black students may
well be worthwhile, if only because it will
provide a more appealing program of research
to instructors than the mere opportunity to
teach in a limited number of courses with a
limited emphasis on black culture.

It remains to be seen, however, whether
the faculty and administration will be willing
to make the sacrifices of time and money
necessary to implement these proposals or to
find alternatives conducive to the same goal
Mr. Bowers seems to have predicated any
expansion of the program on the interest
shown by the students. It seems obvious that
only when the black studies program becomes
vital, specific, and relevant can it be expected
to attract students from disciplines that
already are. And only then will the program
rid itself of the now justifiable label of
tokenism. - R.B.C.