Abstract
Comprehending the history of Black Studies is an imperative issue for future generations of students. Yet more than this, it is also exceedingly relevant to contemporary scholarship that examines the life and minds of African heritage peoples. Alkalimat derives from the cohort of radical 1960s scholars and activists who dared to establish “Black perspectives” in predominately white colleges and universities across the United States. This was during the era of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements that swept the nation, particularly after the assassinations of Minister Malcolm X (February 1965) and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (April 1968). Black scholar-activist leaders like Nathan Hare emerged to set up the first Department of Black Studies at San Francisco State College (now University) in 1968. Indeed, the Journal of Black Studies was established during this era in 1969; and one of the original editors, Dr. Molefi K. Asante, a pioneer in the field of Africology/Africana Studies, continues in that same tradition: empowering the discipline to greater heights with copious scholarship. There are too many other pioneers to recall here, but Alkalimat provides this history with a committed zeal to the disciple of Black Studies.
The book could be deemed a companion to his previous work, Introduction to Afro-American Studies: A Peoples College Primer, which was first published in 1973—almost half a century past. This is stated to note the longevity and commitment Alkalimat brings to the subject matter. It is a study that more than covers the development of Black Studies, largely from the perspective of the Black radical tradition and it is worthy of merit. What is encouraging about his approach is in the building of a consensus among the various schools of thought within the discipline. Alkalimat embraces ideas outside of his intellectual realm with fairness and without rancor. For too long there has been dismissiveness of one school of thought over another and such a style is not something useful to overall Black liberation. Alkalimat is comprehensive in his analysis and remains to this day a vital Pan Africanist scholar in the discipline. Indeed, the structure of the book is focused on three main parts covering: (a) Black Studies intellectual history; (b) Black Studies as a social movement; and (c) Black Studies as an academic profession. Each section is provided with insights into the origins and development of the field that will provide students and scholars with an exceptional intellectual grounding.
It should be pointed out that Alkalimat is a Malcolm X scholar, and one of the best in collating information on his life and times. Moreover, he correctly situates the human rights leader as the political embodiment of Black Studies. It is this area of knowledge that often gets lost in current academic departments that supposedly attest to know something about African American studies yet do not give Malcolm X his due position as arguably the founding intellectual father in the 1960s institutionalization of Black Studies. Alkalimat does point out that Black Studies had been established many decades before mainstream higher education gave in to the force of Black Student protest to develop Black Studies departments and programs within existing curricula offerings. It could also be argued that the assassination of Dr. King propelled white dominated higher education to open up its doors to Black perspectives—this was in hindsight what could be deemed a concession to Black America. Yet there has also been a failure to fully support the discipline in terms of resource allocation as most existing departments and programs can demonstrate.
Alkalimat gives kudos to the profound impact of the Black women’s movement and provides the reader with sources that can be employed for further exploration. However, it should be noted that there is a propensity to lean toward Black feminism rather than Africana womanism offered by, for example, Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems. Her profound contribution is a glaring omission from the book that could have given a more balanced insight into the Africana woman’s struggle—together with rather than opposed to her male counterpart—as many Black feminist perspectives tend to merely offer. The centrality of Black women in the general struggle for Black liberation should not deter Black men and boys from being inextricably interwoven with their mothers, sisters, nieces and partners. Indeed, without Black women there is no Black men and boys. With the gender aspect of Black liberation being so prominent in contemporary times Africana womanism could have been explored within Alkalimat’s narrative. Nevertheless, he does not deter from the overall objective to highlight that a central role in Black struggle is the rights and equality of Black women. This perspective echo’s the analysis of Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois and other historical African American intellectuals who placed women as equals in the struggle against white racialized domination and oppression.
Alkalimat provides a significant bibliography that will give readers detailed direction for further study. In a time when those in the discipline of Black Studies are encountering consistent resistance from inside and outside of academia, The History of Black Studies contributes to the long legacy of Black intellectual resistance to such social and cultural forces. This is a book that allows for reflection and a blueprint for future development in a discipline that has been coopted by those who do not have its history and importance as a primary objective. There is a need to root out those who should not be teaching and researching in Black Studies because they do not adhere to its profoundly political activist tradition and foundation. Scholars in Black Studies who reside in departments and programs across the nation should get a copy of this book and discuss its importance today as we navigate what could be considered the “George Floyd” era, whereby some part of white mainstream institutions has begun to acknowledge the profound impact of institutionalized racism. More importantly, there should be a discussion in what actually constitutes a scholar in Black Studies in the twenty-first century. In this sense, The History of Black Studies will certainly be a good starting point that can be built upon so that future students and scholars in the discipline are not bamboozled into thinking Malcolm X, for example, had nothing to do with why they can now sit in a classroom studying African American history and culture. They will learn much more as this is an important study that captures much in the origins and development of Black Studies from the 1960s onwards.
