Students interested in the African American Studies concentration within the Ethnic Studies minor may take a variety of courses housed in numerous departments within the College of Arts and Sciences. In addition to taking ETHS 252A: Introduction to African American Studies and ETHS 251: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Religion in the United States, students concentrating in African American Studies have options in Political Science, HIstory, English, Economics, Cognitive Science, Religious Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Sociology, to name just a few disciplines.

The ETHS Program also partners with the Kelvin Smith Library to create outreach programs with Cleveland schools so that young students enrolled in academic institutions in proximity to our campus have opportunities to discuss literature and theory with prominent African American authors and scholars of African and African American Studies. Some of the schools we have worked with include John Hay High School (Cleveland), Warrensville Heights High School, John Dewey Elementary School (Warrensville Heights), Lincoln-West High School (Cleveland), Shaker Heights High School, and Hawken School (Gates Mills).

Some of the distinguished lecturers the ETHS program has hosted include:

Alice Randall, novelist and musician, author of The Wind Done Gone (2001), Pushkin and the Queen of Spades (2004) and Rebel Yell (2009)

Preston King, American academic and civil rights leader

Theri Pickens, poet and scholar of African American Studies, Arab American Studies, and Disability Studies and professor at Bates College

Thomas Glave, award-winning author and professor of English, teaching courses in creative writing and African American, Caribbean, black British, and queer literatures at SUNY–Binghamton

Reavis Mitchell, Professor of History, Dean of the School of Humanities / Social and Behavioral Sciences, Fisk University

Olayinka Hassan, Film Director