UT Black Studies Archive

In 1967, students at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) organized and formed the Negro Association for Progress (NAP) to draw attention to the lack of courses in Black history. The NAP collected over 1,300 signatures and petitioned the university to begin offering Black Studies classes, emphasizing the classes be taught by a Black historian.

As a result of student activism, the university’s first course in Black history was taught in Fall 1968 by Mr. George Washington, Jr., a guest lecturer in the Department of American Studies. The following year, Dr. Henry Bullock joined the faculty of the History Department, becoming the first Black permanent faculty member in the arts and sciences. Dr. Bullock taught the History Department’s first class in Black history in Spring 1969, and under his leadership the university’s Ethnic Studies program was founded.

The Ethnic Studies program included the African and Afro American Studies Research Center and the Center Mexican American Studies. With the African and Afro American Studies Research Center’s creation in September 1969, UT became one of a small number of public institutions to establish a center for Afro American Studies. The Ethnic Studies program also offered a BA degree with concentrations in Afro American Studies, Mexican American Studies, and African Studies.

Following Dr. Bullock’s retirement in 1971, Dr. Geneva Gay was appointed as the Research Center’s Interim Director and as Acting Chair of Afro American Studies. During her tenure, Dr. Gay worked to transition the Research Center from an entity within Ethnic Studies to an independent unit on UT’s campus, and led the search for a Director of the newly independent Research Center. After a successful recruitment, in 1973 Dr. John L. Warfield joined the Department of Educational Psychology, and became the Director of Afro American Studies and the African and Afro American Studies Research Center. In the same year, the two entities merged to form the Center for African and Afro American Studies.

Dr. Warfield led the Center for thirteen years, and with Dr. Sheila Walker’s appointment as Center Director in 1991 came an enhanced academic and programmatic focus on the African Diaspora. In 2008, the Center was renamed to the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies to honor its inaugural director.

In 2016, Black Studies at UT became a collective comprised of four units: the African and African Diaspora Studies Department, the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis, and the Art Galleries at Black Studies.

The John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies (WCAAAS) is the arts, culture, and programming division of Black Studies. Since 1969, WCAAAS has been a focal point for campus and community life. The Center encourages creative work that seeks to foster social justice for people of African descent around the world.

Established in 2010, the African and African Diaspora Studies (AADS) Department is the first Black Studies program to grant PhDs in the southern U.S. and is committed to interdisciplinary research and creative production that explores questions of social justice for Black people around the globe.

The Institute for Urban Policy Research Analysis (IUPRA) was developed in 2011 through the collaborative efforts of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, the Warfield Center, and the College of Liberal Arts. IUPRA conducts critical policy analyses of existing and proposed legislation as a means of developing advocacy-oriented data and public policy.

Born from the Warfield Center, the Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS) was established in 2016 and provides a platform to unpack timely social-justice issues through the arts. AGBS is home to the Christian-Green Gallery and the IDEA Lab.

In collaboration with University of Texas Libraries, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections and the Office of the President, Black Studies successfully launched the Black Diaspora Archive (BDA) in 2015. The BDA is the campus repository for Black Studies, and earlier departmental records can be found at the Briscoe Center for American History.